APC Blog

Lessons from Hip Replacement

2011-01-26T12:19:00.001-08:00

Two weeks ago, I had my right hip replaced. In some ways, this has been a long journey, as I have needed something like this for literally years. The cartilage wore out in my right hip, and it has been bone on bone for some time. I compensated by limping, hopping, dragging my right leg around, sitting whenever possible rather than the excruciating pain of standing. It had gotten so bad that I could not climb the stairs in our house without tremendous exertion. And yet, I refused to do anything about it.

On the other hand, this process feels to me to be a whirlwind. I finally succumbed to common sense and the urging of my peers and family and friends, and went to see a doctor in September. This led to seeing a physiatrist (like a Physical Therapist with an MD degree). And finally, I saw an orthopedic surgeon in early December. He recommended I have my right hip replaced, as it was the most painful and in the worst shape. So I was set up for four weeks of visits to a cardiologist (to see if my heart would allow me to endure surgery), a blood donation center (gave my own blood for my own surgery), the xray place, and numerous visits to my regular doctor. All during the hectic Christmas season.

I was nervous about surgery, as I dislike needles and blood, especially my own, at least my own outside my body, I really like my blood inside my body! I had not been in a hospital since I was 12 years old, when I had a hernia operation.

But the surgery was easy. The good folks at Huntington Memorial Hospital were very kind, and very good at their jobs. From the admitting nurse, to the nurse who prepped my for my IV line, to the anesthesiologist, to the surgeon, to the nurses and PA's who helped me in the days after the surgery. The surgery was easy in that my body was there, but I wasn't. I was put to sleep, and woke up a few hours later with a new titanium and ceramic hip. The recovery has been a breeze as well. Day to day, it has been a struggle. But Physical Therapy has really helped, and I have seen progress from week to week.

Early in my recovery, I lay on the couch or sat in the recliner and watched a ton of movies. I watched almost the entire "World at War" series from the mid-1970's. My mind was not focused enough to read and write much, as some of the pain medication was quite potent.

My wife, Beth, has been a real helper. She has tried to serve my needs, has driven me where I need to go, encouraged me to take my medicine and get some rest, and has put up with my belligerence in opposing all things that would dare imply any weakness on my part. My children, Mark and Rachel, have also been very attentive and kind. Rachel came back from school at SLO for the long MLK weekend, and Mark has been back from UCLA the last two weekends. Their love and encouragement has helped as well.

I have also been greatly blessed by my church community. Several people took the time to stop by and see my in the hospital, Rex and Rich and Kimo and Drew and Frank and Rich. Many more have mailed "get well" cards. And dozens of people have commented on my Facebook posts. Thank you!

I would not have gotten this far without the support and encouragement of the community. Self-care is not one of my strengths, and so I needed extra motivation, or nagging, to get me to do the right thing. The seeds of this surgery were planted by Janis Shannon, a dear saint and pastor's wife who kept pleading with me to do something, and kept on praying for me when I did not do anything. Many, many others have also added their weight to nudge me in the right direction.

So, one of the lessons I have learned, again, is the importance of community. I am an unworthy recipient of love and grace, but that's just the point. My worthiness has nothing to do with it. The community of the saints, my extended family, has come through for my own welfare. How long did my family and friends cringe as they watched my painfully hobble around? And they never seemed to lose hope that someday, something would click in my life and I would take care of this.

I will try and reflect on more lessons in the coming days, now that I am walking and my head is cleared of the pain medications.

Suffice it to say that I am deeply grateful to the love and support of my dear family and my church community, and to those who have extended a hand of comfort and blessing to me in the South Pasadena community. (That means people like you, Mr. Dinosaur Farm, lover of puppies!) I am deeply moved and humbled that you would take the time and make the effort. I am a fortunate man. And now, I can walk again!

[SDG - JS]

Moore on Gratitude

2010-11-25T09:55:00.000-08:00

This is a blog post from Dr. Russell Moore, and I like it. Our level of gratitude is influenced by our present circumstances, and we need to protect our hearts from the adaptation. It is really good. Let us know what you think.

“If I hear the word ‘Daddy’ again, I’m going to scream!”

I heard myself saying those words. And, in my defense, it was loud around here. I was trying to work on something, and all I could hear were feet pounding down the stairs with four boys competing with one another to tell me one thing after another. I just wanted five minutes of silence.

My vocal chords were still vibrating when an image hit my brain. It was the picture of me, on my face, praying for children. The house was certainly quiet then. And in those years of infertility and miscarriage and seemingly unanswered prayers, I would have given anything to hear steps on that staircase. I feared I would never hear the word “Daddy,” ever, directed to me. Come to think of it, I even wrote a book about the Christian cry of “Abba, Father.”

And now I was annoyed. Why? It wasn’t that I’d changed my mind about the blessing of children. It was that my family had become “normal” to me. In the absence of children, the blessing was forefront on my mind. But in their presence, they’d become expected, part of what I expected from my day-to-day existence. And that’s what’s so dangerous.
Gratitude is spiritual warfare. I’m convinced my turn of imagination that day was conviction of sin, a personal uprooting of my own idolatry by the Spirit of Christ. What I need to fear most is what seems normal to me.

We’re all, in some way or other, in the same place the people of Israel were in in Joshua 23 and 24. Joshua, their warrior-leader, stands before them and recounts all the blessings God has given, reminding them that “not one word has failed of all the good things that the Lord God promised concerning you” (Josh. 23:14a). Joshua said, “All have come to pass for you; not one of them has failed” (Josh. 23:14b).

And yet, as Joshua foretold (and Moses before him), the people would soon be in the land of olive trees and wine presses. These things, what they’d cried for in the wilderness, would soon seem “normal” to them. And, soon enough, they’d crave more and more, so much so that they’d chase after Canaanite idols to get what they wanted.

This is what some philosophers call “hedonic adaptation.” We tend to adjust to the level of happiness or prosperity we have. We grow to expect it, to not even notice it. And then we want more. That’s why it’s so hard for people to come down in standard of living. It’s easy to move from a studio apartment to a two-story house, but it’s awful to do the reverse. Few people have a problem going from a 1985 Ford Fairmont to a brand new BMW, but it’s incomprehensible to go the other direction.

This is the way of all flesh, as it is pulled toward the abyss by the satanic powers. It is always so. The garden of Eden becomes mere vegetation for blinded humans in the beginning. The mountains and caves become mere covering for blinded humans in the end.
The Spirit of Christ draws us toward gratitude because the Spirit convicts us of our creatureliness. We’re dependent on breath, on bread, on love, and these things come, personally, as gifts from a Father (Jas. 1:17).

Is there anything in your life that you’ve grown accustomed to? Is there something you prayed for, fervently, in pleading in its absence that you haven’t prayed for, fervently, in thanksgiving in its presence? There’s several such things in my life, and, I fear, many more that I don’t even think about.

I’m typing this at the kitchen table. I was just interrupted by Moore boys wrestling for the last Little Debbie Cake in the pantry. As soon as I heard “Daddy,” I looked up, even in writing this article, in frustration. But the Spirit still crucifies, still resurrects.

Thank You.

The original article link is here.

[SDG-JS]

I hate to tell you: Phrases that announce ‘I’m lying‘

2010-11-25T09:49:00.000-08:00

A very interesting post in the Boston Globe this week, about phrases we use in everyday conversation that operate contrary to their face value. Here are the opening three paragraphs of the article, followed by the link below.

I hate to be the one to tell you this, but there’s a whole range of phrases that aren’t doing the jobs you think they’re doing.

In fact, “I hate to be the one to tell you this” (like its cousin, “I hate to say it”) is one of them. Think back: How many times have you seen barely suppressed glee in someone who — ostensibly — couldn’t be more reluctant to be the bearer of bad news? A lack of respect from someone who starts off “With all due respect”? A stunning dearth of comprehension from someone who prefaces their cluelessness with “I hear what you’re saying”? And has “I’m not a racist, but...” ever introduced an unbiased statement?

These contrary-to-fact phrases have been dubbed (by the Twitter user GrammarHulk and others) “but-heads,” because they’re at the head of the sentence, and usually followed by but. They’ve also been dubbed “false fronts,” “wishwashers,” and, less cutely, “lying qualifiers.”

The original article is here.

Read the whole thing. Which of these phrases do you use most often? [SDG-JS]

Guthrie on Sad People, Safe Churches

2010-08-04T19:11:00.000-07:00

Another outstanding post from The Gospel Coalition. The interview is with Nancy Guthrie. She and her husband founded the Griefshare ministry out of their own grief. Her story is here, and well worth the read.

This struck me, I am sorry to say, when we first started our first Griefshare group last January. After a few sessions, a new member of the group surprised us by coming to our Sunday morning worship service. I was especially attentive that morning to the question, "What word of comfort and hope will she hear this morning? Will her pain be addressed?" To my surprise, and discomfort, the answer was "no". There was no acknowledgment in the entire service about the suffering of loss. No prayers that might have addressed this. No mention in the scripture reading. No hint during the sermon.

I am not sure that every worship service needs to address every human need and condition. Something I read a few months back suggested there is something quite shallow, and well, un-gospel-like to have only happy thoughts during a service of worship.

Here is Colin Hansen's interview with Nancy Guthrie. I'd love to hear what you think of it.

Why did you initially become interested in making churches a safe place for sad people?

Because I’ve been a sad person, and I know what it is to look to my church for companionship, practical help, prayer support, and theological clarity in the midst of overwhelming and perplexing sorrow. I remember attending a church choir retreat three months after burying my daughter and saying to the group, “I’m not sinking into depression. I haven’t lost my faith. I’m just sad, and I need you to let me be sad.” The truth is, most of us are uncomfortable with sadness, as individuals and as churches. We want to fix people and help them to feel better, and we are far less patient than God is with the process he uses to bring healing.

But making a church a safe place for sad people is about much more than providing personal and practical support. A social club can do that. The gospel is what provides the solid truth that grieving people need to inform their feelings and undergird their hope. For a church to be a safe place for sad people does not merely mean that we offer comfort and acceptance. Sometimes it means that we gently but boldly challenge misbeliefs or misunderstandings of Scripture.

Last week I was with a friend whose mother had died, and we were just beginning to talk about what people were telling her about her mother being right beside her, watching over her. As I was beginning to talk through what the Scriptures have to say about what happens after death, another woman who was there with us stopped me and proceeded to tell us about her experiences of seeing and hearing from her parents after their deaths, convinced that these visions were from God. People long for supernatural signs in regard to the deaths of their loved ones, and unfortunately they often endow those experiences with far more authority than they give to Scripture. A church that is a safe place for sad people will lovingly present the Scriptures as authoritative and sufficient, providing all we need to entrust our loved ones to God.

What’s the most helpful thing we can do for a fellow church member struggling through grief?

Grieving people have four primary needs that the church has a key role in addressing:
They have intense sadness that is lonely and lingering that needs to be respected.
They have significant questions that need to be addressed in light of Scripture.
They have broken relationships that need to be healed and normalized.
They have a deep desire to discover some meaning and purpose in their loss.
While we make room for people to be sad, we want to walk with people in expectation that God will indeed do a work of healing in their lives so that they do not stay stuck in their sadness, but emerge from it strengthened in their confidence in God, deepened in their understanding of the Scriptures, and equipped to serve others.

What are some common errors we make when trying to help someone going through a difficult time?

On a practical level, we say, “Just call me if I can help.” The truth is, when you’re going through a family crisis or grief, you don’t really want to have to keep asking for help or organize all of the help you need. To have someone assume the responsibility for organizing meals and other practical help is a great gift. Even better is the person figures out what is needed and simply says, “I’m coming over Wednesday morning to do your laundry.”

Sometimes we’re afraid of saying the wrong thing to someone who is hurting so we say nothing, adding to his or her hurt by ignoring it. Or we’re afraid that “bringing it up” will make the person sad, not realizing that our “bringing it up” actually allows that person to release some of the sadness they are already feeling.

On a spiritual level, I often hear Christian leaders or counselors say to the person who is grieving something like, “It’s okay to be angry with God. He can handle it.” I know they are trying to encourage authenticity before God and with other people, and that is worthwhile. But a church that is a safe place for sad people brings the truth to bear on the untruths and misunderstandings that serve as grounds for anger toward God rather than giving permission to hold on to or simply vent that anger.

Perhaps another mistake we make is assuming that people have grasped the sovereignty of God that has been preached from the pulpit. Often it is not until believers’ lives are shaken by circumstances or sorrow that they are finally ready to delve into deeper theological truths. As they are struggling to put together their understanding of a loving God with the God who allowed the accident or the illness, we have to be ready to talk through the implications of God’s sovereignty in very real terms. And usually it is not one conversation that settles this, but must be a series of conversations, giving time for these deep truths to settle in.

What is the uniqueness of a gospel-centered church in the way it ministers to people grieving a loss?

I don’t remember a lot of what my pastor said when we stood at my daughter’s graveside. But I remember him saying, “This is where we ask, ‘Is the gospel really true?’” And I remember whispering to myself in that moment, “Yes!”

While many of us are content to stay in the shallow end of the theological pool when things are going well, significant loss forces us into the deep end of the things of God, and that’s a good thing. This is where our understanding of God working out his plan to put an end to the brokenness of this world caused by sin moves from a religious discussion outside of us to become a gospel reality at work in us. We want to understand the bigger picture of God’s purposes in the world to make some sense of what has happened to us. The words we sing in worship have new meaning. Christ’s victory over death is more precious. Our future hope is more real. Gospel-rich teaching and preaching, counseling, and worship help to answer our questions and bring healing to our lives.

[SDG-JS]

Anne Rice: Loves Christ but Not the Church

2010-07-30T12:17:00.000-07:00

Another fine post by Collin Hansen on The Gospel Coalition today on the Anne Rice story circling the blogosphere.

Using today’s news medium of choice, novelist Anne Rice announced July 28 on Facebook that she has quit being a Christian. Rice, the famed author of Interview with a Vampire, says she still loves Christ. But it’s the rest of us she can’t stand.
I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being “Christian” or to being part of Christianity. It’s simply impossible for me to “belong” to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten years, I’ve tried. I’ve failed. I’m an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else.
Once a “pessimistic atheist,” Rice famously resumed confessing and celebrating Mass in the Roman Catholic Church several years ago. The world learned of her change of heart in 2005 when Knopf announced they would publish Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, Rice’s novel about the 7-year-old Jesus. Researching the book, she studied N. T. Wright, Augustine, John A. T. Robinson, D. A. Carson, and Craig Blomberg, among others.

Rice’s story was never tidy, however. Her son and fellow novelist is openly gay. Doubt remained over how she would regard the Roman Catholic Church’s teachings where she plainly disagreed. This week Rice removed all doubt.
In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen.
Rice’s defense of “secular humanism” is particularly puzzling for someone who says she remains committed to Christ and argues for the historical validity of the Resurrection. Indeed, Rice says she continues to believe in an active, loving God.
My faith in Christ is central to my life. My conversion from a pessimistic atheist lost in a world I didn’t understand, to an optimistic believer in a universe created and sustained by a loving God is crucial to me. But following Christ does not mean following His followers. Christ is infinitely more important than Christianity and always will be, no matter what Christianity is, has been, or might become.
So it seems Rice has joined the loud and growing chorus that sings, “I love Jesus, just not the church.” Yet when we read Scripture, we see that Jesus Christ loved the church. In fact, he gave himself up for her (Eph. 5:25). It’s not like Jesus loved us naively. He who was betrayed by one of his closest friends and abandoned by others during his time of greatest need surely understood human failings.

All true Christians belong together to the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:27), purchased by Jesus’ blood shed on the Cross. “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Eph. 4:4-6). Nobody who belongs to a local church will say that it’s always easy to love fellow Christians who have been justified and yet continue to sin. At the same time, no Christian who knows himself believes it’s always easy for others to love him, either. And yet we’ve been called to love one another according to the example of Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. A maturing disciple of Christ learns to love when it’s hard and submit to the Word’s authority when we’re tempted to disagree.

Well, we can condemn Rice's choice all we want, and bemoan her lack of maturity. It does seem to me that we can easily slip into thinking of the "ideal" church, you know the one, the one where we all agree, where we are all mature, where it is easy to love one another because we are so, um, lovable. Well, that is not the church. In the church, we are all redeemed sinners. But we are all in process towards maturity in Christ. Some are well on the way, some are barely out of the gate. To love Christ is to love those whom Christ loves.

I understand the deep disappointment Rice has with the church. But she also seems as if she has picked and chosen those things about the church she wants. We all have these issues to some degree or the other. But to follow Christ is to submit ourselves to His Lordship and discipline.

My prayers go out to Anne Rice and her family, as she wrestles with this decision. [SDG-JS]

Devaluing Dads, Discrediting the Father

2010-07-30T12:01:00.000-07:00

Great post from Wednesday at The Gospel Coalition on the value of fathers. The secular trend is to argue that fathers are not necessary. So children raised by a single woman, or two women in a relationship, will not lose much of anything by not having a father around.

As the oldest son in a family marked by divorce, I can testify to the loss of not having a father around. Some have diagnosed this as a "father wound."

We dispense with fatherhood, a basic building block of family and society, at our peril.

So why all the momentum to undermine fathers? I wonder if our discomfort with the idea of human fatherhood is a sign of a problem deeper in our souls. Bible scholars say that God is a mysterious Trinity of three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In his sovereignty, God the Father runs the universe and has set in motion the only sure plan of redemption.
Maybe we devalue our earthly fathers because we are estranged from our heavenly one. We prefer to walk Buddhism’s Eightfold Path, obey Islam’s Five Pillars, or practice our own atheist morality than answer to a heavenly Father. We’d rather invent our own salvation than acknowledge his.
Maybe we evangelicals, who do a good job of emphasizing Jesus the Son, haven’t done as well talking about his Father and ours. It was Jesus, after all, who told us not only that the Father is holy and able to cast us into hell, but that he loves us and knows our every need even before we ask. Far from a ridiculous bumbler, this

Father combines wisdom, power, and grace.Are fathers necessary? Yes, on earth—and in heaven.

Read Guthrie’s whole column at Crosswalk.com.[SDG-JS]

Ecumenical Greetings from Father Siarhei Sardun

2010-07-15T08:38:00.000-07:00

Here is the video clip from the General Assembly Business Session 7, which was introduced by Father Siarhei Sardun, from the Orthodox Church in Belarus. He was asked to bring greetings as an Ecumenical Advisory Delegate. He is introduced about a minute in. The fireworks begin about five minutes in. The whole clip is about eight minutes long.

I have been unable to find a transcription of his greeting. The following is a synopsis posted by The Discerning Deacon.

If you are unfamiliar with the currents in the Presbyterian Church, the introductory minute shows you a glimpse of the Clash of Cultures (and Christianities, Fr. Sardun encountered) The shorthand from Fr's speech: I am from the Ancient Orthodox church, unchanged from 2,000 years. We were nearly exterminated by the secular forces of the 20th Century, but are now resurgent. The East is embracing Orthodoxy again. We have had the financial help of the Presbyterian church in America, so I have come here to thank you since I have never encountered the Presbyterian Church before. Now that I have encountered you, I find that you do not embrace the ancient faith. You have changed the Nicene creed by adding the Filioque. And another thing. I was really struck by your discussion of Christian morality. Christian morality is as old as the church itself. It doesn't need to be invented now. And those attempts to invent a new morality, look to me like attempts to invent a new religion. A sort of modern paganism. When people say they are led and guided by the Holy Spirit to do it, I wonder if it is the same Holy Spirit that inspired the Bible, the same Holy Spirit that inspires the Holy Orthodox Church not to change anything in Christian Doctrine and Moral Standards...

Sing it Brother! It took some cast iron cojones to stand before the entire leadership of the Presbyterian Church and warn them of turning into pagans -- speaking Truth to Power. This is what we are all called to do every day folks -- in large ways and small. Pray that the Lord helps us find the courage to love him this much.

As you can see in the video, Father Sardun is extremely gracious, he is deeply thankful for the monetary support of the PC(USA) and its partnership. However, as a friend, he has some harsh things to say, but he does it graciously, don't you think?

The arguments over the inclusion of the Filioque clause in the Apostles' Creed have been going on since the sixth century. The following is from Wikipedia, the whole article is here.

Filioque, Latin for "and (from) the Son", was added in Western Christianity to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, commonly referred to as the Nicene Creed. This creed, foundational to Christian belief since the 4th century, defines the three persons of the Trinity: the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit. In its original Greek form, the creed says that the Holy Spirit proceeds "from the Father". The Latin text speaks of the Holy Spirit as proceeding "from the Father and the Son".
Et in Spiritum Sanctum, Dominum, et vivificantem: qui ex Patre Filioque procedit.
(And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.)
The word Filioque was first added to the Creed at the Third Council of Toledo (589) and its inclusion spread later throughout the Frankish Empire.^[1] In the 9th century, Pope Leo III, while accepting, like his predecessor Pope Leo I, the doctrine, suppressed the singing of the Filioque in the Mass of the Roman rite.^[1] In 1014, however, inclusion of Filioque in the Creed was adopted in Rome.^[1] Since its denunciation by Photios I of Constantinople,^[1] it has been an ongoing source of conflict between the East and West, contributing to the East-West Schism of 1054 and proving an obstacle to attempts to reunify the two sides.^[2]

If this were Father Sardun's only critique, it seems like a rather quaint revisit to ancient controversies. But he does not leave it there. He critiques quite forcefully the new moral standards, (I suppose he means the debates about homosexual marriage and ordination). He likens this approach to a creation of a new religion, a new "paganism".

Not satisfied with that, he goes deeper in critiquing the continual references to the Holy Spirit. Almost every prayer at the General Assembly, and rightly in my opinion, asked for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. And yet, Father Sardun points out, when the conclusion we come to differs from what Scripture clearly teaches, are we, in fact, listening to the same spirit?

On the one hand, this from a man who is proud that the Orthodox Church has not changed doctrinally for 2,000 years, so ANY deviation would be a large one. So one could chalk this up to hyperbole, or to our country brother visiting the big city for the first time.

But on the other hand, he has a point. The phrase bandies about at many Presbyterian meetings is "the Church Reformed, always Reforming."

There are several popular Latin mottos associated with the Protestant Reformation, one of which is “ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda.” Translated into English this Latin phrase reads, “the church reformed and always reforming.” This phrase first appeared in a 1674 devotional by Jodocus van Lodenstein, who was involved in the Dutch Second Reformation. According to van Lodenstein and other reformers who used the phrase, the church was reformed under the Protestant Reformation, but it was always in need of further reformation, that is according to the Word of God.

Almost five hundred years after the Protestant Reformation began, this is certainly still true of the church today. Consider two critical examples of how the church should always be reforming:

1. Culture.

The church needs to always be reforming because of the influence of the culture. The culture is always changing (especially these days) and a danger the church faces is conforming to the culture in order to be relevant and popular. To the degree that the church has conformed to the culture it needs to be reformed according to the Scripture.

2. Tradition.

The church needs to always be reforming because of the influence of tradition. One danger the church faces is for tradition to become more authoritative than Scripture and to do certain things because they’ve always been done a certain way. To be sure certain traditions can be good, but they become harmful to the church when they conflict with biblical teaching. Traditions must always be tested according to the Scriptures and if they fail the test, the church should be reformed.

A great Scriptural summary of “the church reformed and always reforming” is Romans 12:2, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

One of the things often lacking in the reforming debate is that phrase "secundum verbum Dei", or "according the the Word of God". Much of our current "reformation" seems to be following the culture rather than stemming from God's Word. [SDG-JS]

Scraps of Thoughts on Daily Prayer- Tim Keller

2010-07-13T23:36:00.000-07:00

A wonderful and helpful little message by Tim Keller on, well, you read the title!

There are three kinds of prayer I try to find time for every day — meditation (or contemplation), petition, and repentance. I concentrate on the first two every morning and do the last one in the evening.

Meditation is actually a middle ground or blend of Bible reading and prayer. I like to use Luther’s contemplative method that he outlines in his famous letter on prayer that he wrote to his barber. The basic method is this – to take a Scriptural truth and ask three questions of it. How does this show me something about God to praise? How does this show me something about myself to confess? How does this show me something I need to ask God for? Adoration, confession, and supplication. Luther proposes that we keep meditating like this until our hearts begin to warm and melt under a sense of the reality of God. Often that doesn’t happen. Fine. We aren’t ultimately praying in order to get good feelings or answers, but in order to honor God for who he is in himself.

There are two kinds of Bible reading that I try to do. I read the psalms through every month using the Book of Common Prayer’s daily office. I also read through the Bible using Robert Murray M’Cheyne’s reading calendar. I take the more relaxed version — two chapters a day, which takes you through the Old Testament every two years and the New Testament every year. I do the M’Cheyne reading and some of the psalms in the morning, and read some Psalms in the evening. I choose one or two things from the psalms and M’Cheyne chapters to meditate on, to conclude my morning devotions.

Go ahead. Jump start your prayer life and read the whole thing. And if you have never used M'Cheyne's reading plan, try it, you will like it. [SDG-JS]

More Thoughts on General Assembly

2010-07-11T09:54:00.000-07:00

After every great sporting event, there will be those who write their reflections on the event. "Monday Morning Quarterbacks" is what we call some of them. Second-guessing is human nature. But it is far easier to second-guess in the comfort of your own home or office, with leisurely time to ponder all the possibilities, than it is to take part in the great contest, played out in real time, not slo-mo capture cameras from eight different angles.

Still, there is something healthy about reflecting on significant events. I will try to read what others are writing about the recent 219th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), and pass them along to you.

One speaker I heard was Ecumenical Advisory Delegate from the Orthodox Church in Belarus, Archpriest Siarhei Hardun. This article in the Layman Online seems to provide a decent summary of his comments. Several that resonated with me are captured in the article.

The Belarusian cleric spoke words of gratitude for PCUSA mission workers in the region and then turned to his evaluation of the week in Minneapolis.

“I am for the first time with Presbyterians, and now I want to say a few words about my impressions that I feel visiting this General Assembly,” he said.

Hardun’s first impression was related to the use of the 11th century version of the Nicene Creed instead of the 4th century version preferred by ecumenical councils.

He then said, “And another thing. I was really struck while listening to your discussion about homosexuality, same-sex marriage, civil unions and other moral issues. Christian morality is as old as Christianity itself. It doesn’t need to be invented now. Those attempts to invent new morality look for me like attempts to invent a new religion – a sort of modern paganism.

“When people say that they are led and guided by the Holy Spirit to do it, I wonder if it is the same Spirit that inspired the Bible, if it is the same Holy Spirit that inspires the Holy Orthodox Church not to change anything doctrinal or moral standards? It is really the same Spirit or perhaps there are different spirits acting in different denominations and inspiring them to develop in different directions and create different theologies and different morals?

“My desire is that all Christians should contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all delivered to the saints, as St. Jude calls us to do (Jude 1:3). And my advice as an Ecumenical Advisory Delegate is the following: 'Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.’” (Romans 12:2).

These are thoughts that are well worth heeding. I am grateful for his courage to utter them with confidence and boldness, and paying no heed to the overwhelming oppression of political correctness that can accompany such gatherings.

My friend, and fellow soccer referee, Steve Salyards, is a General Assembly junkie. In fact, he has a blog called GA Junkie!He has developed a summary chart of the actions of the GA, and it is pretty useful, I think. One of Steve's comments is really good, and I would agree to a great extent:

2) While acknowledging that a lot of people are frustrated, to say the least, by the Assembly deferring the issue all together, this whole sequence points to a much larger issue related to the Assembly -- the Assembly has far too little time to do way too much business. Both the move to quickly answer all the other business with the report as well as the strong response not to reconsider it today are, in my observation, an indication that the commissioners are setting priorities for what items they are willing to engage in lengthy debates about and they essentially said that this was not one of them. Back at the 209th GA when I was a commissioner we reached 1 AM on Friday night (i.e. Saturday morning) and just started referring business to the 210th GA to finish off the docket.

Please be clear that I am not saying that the commissioners were looking to ignore the issue, wanted a quick fix, or needed an easy out, especially because of the late hour. What I am saying is that in the multitude of factors that the commissioners were weighing, consciously and subconsciously, the fact that they had a limited amount of time to deal with an overwhelming amount of work was a factor that influenced some and, I believe, the original resolution passed at that hour when it probably would not have passed at an earlier hour of the day.

After tracking GA's for a number of years I have come to understand that an Assembly has one good debate per day in them. It appears that Thursday's debate was on the issue of ordination standards. The commissioners saved their energy for that and when finished they then had enough of hot topics for the day. Again, this is not a reflection on the inherent importance of the topic itself, only the tendency of the Assembly to prioritize the use of their time and energy.

If you are wondering about the energy level of the Assembly, it was clear from the commissioners at the microphone that by Friday morning the energy was starting to fade -- There was one commissioner that had lost track of which day it was and another that had lost track of which vote they were taking.

Now, my comments here are not a conservative's plea of "Let not deal with it and keep the status quo." This is a realist's plea to say "Let's find a better way to deal with it." That is also part of the message of our Special Committee report. The Assembly has a limited amount of time to deal with a whole lot of business. For the most part the commissioner committee process is successful and the full Assembly tends to trust the intense discernment and study each committee puts in on the topic. But there are still enough major issues to eat up more time than the GA has to faithfully deal with them.

So, can we step back for a moment and ask if the PC(USA) is trying to do too much business with too little time? Are we giving ourselves space to be the body of Christ together in real discernment listening to each other. That is what the Special Committee did and our conclusion was that we were brothers and sisters in Christ around that table and while we could not come to agreement on that topic, we were still around the table together.

I don't know the answer. I ask myself if we need to limit the business to an Assembly. Do we need to restructure the way business gets done. Do we need more Assemblies, each more specifically focused. I'm still thinking and have not decided yet. But it is my conclusion that at the present time the General Assembly feels the constraint of the clock too much with too much to do in too little time to properly work through it.

My thoughts for today -- your mileage may vary.

Well said, ref!

Some of these observations are sort of an "Inside Baseball" look at the GA. There was much to like about the event, even if one did not wholeheartedly agree with the positions taken. I found this article by the official PC(USA) writers a good one, highlighting the local youth who helped with the logistics of the assembly.

Energetic members of the Committee on Local Arrangement (COLA) greeted Presbyterians as they arrived in Minneapolis last weekend. The now-familiar white smocks (with the Presbyterian symbol emblazoned on front and back) cloaked volunteers at the baggage claim carousels, ready to point people to waiting buses and answer any questions. For the first time at a General Assembly, however, COLA invited local youth to volunteer alongside them.

Ed Martin, an adult volunteer, said the transportation team intentionally implemented aspects of the Restorative Justice paper (approved at the 214th General Assembly in 2002). The paper states that restorative justice works to address the needs of victim, offender and the community, without afflicting punishment or revenge, but by pursuing “the biblical visions of shalom and the kingdom of God.”

Accompanying some of the area’s troubled youth, Presbyterian volunteers modeled positive service. Martin commented that it was an easy way to say, “We care.” Roman Catholic, Lutheran, United Church of Christ, and United Methodist teens all helped with the hospitality; interestingly, none of the youth was Presbyterian.

Martin said, “The most wonderful thing was to see these young people get thanked. They don’t get that very often.” He continued, “That’s what the church is all about: helping them to feel important and valuable.”

In addition to the local youth, two church groups, from Plymouth Presbyterian Church, Plymouth, Minn., and Central Presbyterian Church, Atlanta, Ga., also helped the transportation teams. COLA expects some youth to also help as people depart on Saturday.

I will leave you with two comments from the Kopp Disclosure, written by motorcycle riding pot stirrer, Dr. Robert Kopp from Illinois.

Another faithful fellah in Texas wrote, "Presbyterian evangelist Charles Finney was once reported to have said, 'Every time there's a Presbyterian General Assembly, there's a jubilee in hell!'...There is only one, holy, catholic, apostolic CHURCH. You don't get into it by leaving the PCUSA; nor are you excluded from it by staying in the PCUSA...Denominations aren't Biblical, nor are they 'working' anymore...I will not run and leave the camp, and the lambs, to the Philistines..."

Amen!

A seminarian at PTS (Pittsburgh): "What does the world see when it looks at the church today? I am afraid it sees us as just another special interest group...The world sees infighting...We imitate the world more than the Word...Even the command given to us to love one another can be trashed if it gets in the way of our need to win...The evil one has now brought Christ's church to the place where it may fall because of its divisions...We need God's intervention. God alone can lift our eyes out of the mud pit where we have become content to dwell...If the church is to recover, we need to repent and seek God's grace now. The world that Jesus died to save needs us now more than ever. We must be healed by God. Then we must extend those healed and healing hands to our hurting neighbors. Let the church become a place of love, hope, and joy for such a time as this.

Refreshing.

That's it for this Sunday morning. I am resting from my travels and adventures today. And watching the World Cup Final with my son at 11:30 this morning. [SDG-JS]

Friday Morning, It is Finished

2010-07-10T09:11:00.000-07:00

Actually, the 219th General Assembly will close in about 45 minutes with a worship service. I am glad for the opening and closing worship services. It frames the context in which we do business. We are not here just to conduct business, but to worship the Lord who has redeemed us and called us. Our business is part of our worship. I have been in session meetings in other churches where we only open a perfunctory prayer, and then dig right into the business at hand. I think this sets the wrong tone, and dishonors Jesus. What we do is because of who He is.

Last night was a long night. The plenary session ended around 10:30 p.m., and then my committee, Committee Three- General Assembly Procedures, had its final meeting. We met to approve the General Assembly per capita budget for 2011 and 2012. This morning, our recommendation was presented to the whole assembly for approval.

I found the whole process bizarre to say the least. Each overture in the General Assembly has a section called "Financial Implications". Every Task Force, every Study, every thing we do, it seems, costs money. And commissioners keep voting for overtures with financial implications, and the cash register tape keeps on going. There seems to be no thought whatsoever on this issue.

For example, last night, an overture was made for some study on women's issues. Part of the cost was going to be paid from money that was not used for a similar study in 2009. However, no one seemed to know whether the amount for 2010-2011 was in addition to that money, or whether the 2010-2011 budget was the whole thing, or what.

In addition, and I cannot find the documentation right now, an overture to define "youth" was passed that called for about $60,000 over three years. The emphasis was to make sure that across the board, ever board and committee and group in the PC(USA) used the term "youth" to refer to the same group of people. Interesting concept, I suppose, for a policy wonk. But $60K?

Sadly, we seem to be following the culture on this. We keep adding things to do, all good things, no doubt, and then we will figure out later how to pay for them. The financial guys I talked to here seem to be solid citizens, and good fellows. But they are clearly trying to do the best they can in the situation they have been given. There is no time given to prioritizing these items, developing a process to determine which of the dozens of new things should be given priority.

There was a committee/department called the PHEWA, Presbyterian Health, Education and Welfare Agency. In the downsizing in Louisville in the recent past, much of this department was gutted, and its functions absorbed into other departments. But last night, overture after overture was presented to restore this agency which had been cut. Instead of adapting to new realities, people just wanted one more opportunity at the trough.

There was an interesting proposal from the Mission Committee to fund some 1,000 Volunteers In Mission. There is a cost, to be sure. But these VIM's are expected to raise their own support, and the subsidies are minimal. Right on cue, a YAAD (Young Adult Advisory Delegate) rose to speak in favor of the funding. She said that she would love to volunteer for mission, but someone else had to pay her way.

Another woman bemoaned the fact that there was no Presbyterian Church near her college campus, and that the Presbyterian Center on her campus was shutting down due to lack of funding. She was bereft, and pleaded for more funding. The answer for many, it seems, is "more funding".

Another clear answer during the entire Assembly was the mantra of "diversity". I really like the diversity of people. Different genders, different cultures, different points of view, it all makes for a rich experience. And yet, especially when discussing the GLBTQ issues, time and again it was stated as dogmatic fact that the Presbyterian Church (USA) is not growing because we are not being as inclusive as we should be. Code language, I suppose, for the idea that if only we ordained GLBTQ folks, the PC(USA) would explode with growth.

Well, it is an idea, to be sure. And yet, look at the denominations where the ordination has been happening, and look at how their denominations are "exploding" with growth.

One more take on the GLBTQ discussions. We heard repeated time and again that the Global South was the next wave of growth in the church, and that we needed to support our brothers and sisters in the Global South. This was true for debates about Iraq and Afghanistan. However, when it was pointed out again and again that our current discussions entertaining the idea of ordaining GLBTQ folks is viscerally disgusting and disappointing to our brothers and sisters in the Global South. Our pursuit of this agenda may be winning a friend or two in our decadent and narcissistic culture, but we are really offending our mission partners around the world. And yet, as always, since the days of colonialism, we listen to our "partners" as long as they toe the line on our agenda. For all the talk about sensitivity and inclusiveness, in my own opinion, this General Assembly failed to be consistent with its own stated values.

But politics is not life. There are some here this week who absolutely live for this. This political process is a drug for them. And having the GA meet every other year just makes it worse for them. It is like eating every other year. They are famished for the political machinations. For many of us, the experience is confusing, and overwhelming. We are given a week to digest huge amounts of information, and debate on things we have only recently heard about. It is tough enough to keep up with ones own committee work, much less all the other issues to any depth.

Still, I am grateful to have been a participant. it is a singular opportunity. I will probably never attend another GA as a commissioner. Too bad, really. In a perfect world, the number of delegates would decrease. We deliberated with 712 delegates, and almost 200 advisers. That's almost 1,000 people! Can't get much done in a group that size. In a perfect world, each presbytery would send one minister and one elder as commissioners, and also one minister and one elder as "trainees". That is, they would go as observers, and participate in the whole process, except voting. Nothing prepares one for GA like actually going. But after the experience, there is little one can do to follow up on that experience. I think this sort of thing would be most helpful.

It is the people who make GA what it is. Last night at dinner, I sat next to a guy whose name looked familiar. As we talked, we discovered that we had gone to the same high school together, though he was a year older. It was great to connect with him, and hear about his church near Olympia, Washington.

I got to know a young man named Mark who is a pastor in San Jose. He is a Japanese-American serving a largely white congregation, but doing it with enthusiasm and joy.

In committee, I sat next to Eric who had run for Moderator of the General Assembly. From Eau Claire, Wisconsin, he had really good insights into the processes during the week.

I talked with a woman named Sara who spent four years in the Navy, and just finished her first year at Princeton Seminary. She has a passion to use her more artistic side to communicate the gospel to others.

General Assembly was not like going to camp for a week. This was not about my spiritual growth, it was about work, about serving Christ, about wrestling with the how Jesus wants us to respond to contemporary problems and opportunities. And yet, the wise words of Bob Davies run through my head, "The GA exists to do business, not to solve problems." So I am grateful for the opportunity to take part, to voice what I think Jesus stands for in these crucial and not so crucial votes, to get to see the larger body gather to worship and pray and work, to get to meet colleagues from the past, and colleagues I will work with in the future.

There was much to like here. There was much to appreciate here. There was much to be frustrated by and disappointed in here. And yet, that is our lot on this side of the Jordan, isn't it? Even in a like-minded place like APC, we disagree, we sometimes treat one another in a less than Jesus-honoring manner, we can act studpidly, selfishly, desiring our own preferences above God's will. And yet, God loves us. We are God's people, and He is shaping us in this crucible of life and ministry and community to become his beautiful bride. A bride not out of some pristine bubble, but a bride who has taken her lumps, who has worked in the fields, who has been through hard times. A bride who is all the more beautiful because of her suffering and wounds, because that suffering makes her long all the more for the bridegroom.

So at the end of this experience, my desire is stronger than ever for the growth and health of the church. But more importantly, my heart yearns more and more for Jesus. "Come Lord Jesus, come!" Maranatha!

Thanks for your prayers this week, they helped. They sustained me. And thanks for allowing me to go on this madcap adventure called General Assembly. I hope I honored the Lord, and I hope I served you well, to the best of my ability. I look forward to seeing you all soon. Now, I gotta pack, and check out, and get to the airport, etc. California, here I come.

Thursday, More Than Hump Day

2010-07-08T22:26:00.000-07:00

A grueling day today at the General Assembly. I had a breakfast this morning at 7:00 a.m., but I could not get myself out of bed for it. But some good news before the rest of my midnight reflections.

First, the COLA (Committee on Local Arrangements) has collected socks and underwear for homeless folks in the area. It will be distributed through churches and homeless shelters. A bunch has been collected, and it has been a great "Hands on Mission".

In news closer to home, Dakota Santana-Grace, son of our Executive presbyter, opened the afternoon session with prayer. Quite an honor for the young man. He is an impressive kid. He just had his abstract published in the national journal of paleontology for a discovery he made on a dinosaur dig in Wyoming this year. He was on Committee Six, which dealt with the ordination standards. He was pulled both ways by the biblical witness, the theology and history, but also the personal testimonies. He has a good heart and a really fine mind. It has been fun to talk with him and sit with him in the main assembly sessions.

Among the actions yesterday and today:

The Belhar Confession was approved to be sent to the presbyteries for adoption into our Book of Confessions. This confession is brief, and came out of apartheid South Africa, and speaks to the unity of the church. On the surface, it is fine. At worst, many fear this will be used to further erode the ordination standards.
The nFOG was passed, to be sent to the presbyteries for acceptance or rejection.
Today, in a very close and painful vote, the ordination standards have been changed, pending the approval of the presbyteries. You will read more about this, I am sure.

Final Text:

Shall G-6.0106b be amended by striking the current text and inserting new text in its place: [Text to be deleted is shown with a strike-through; text to be added or inserted is shown as italic.]

“b. Those who are called to office in the church are to lead a life in obedience to Scripture and in conformity to the historic confessional standards of the church. Among these standards is the requirement to live either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman (W-4.9001), or chastity in singleness. Persons refusing to repent of any self-acknowledged practice which the confessions call sin shall not be ordained and/or installed as deacons, elders, or ministers of the Word and Sacrament. Standards for ordained service reflect the church’s desire to submit joyfully to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in all aspects of life (G-1.0000). The governing body responsible for ordination and/or installation (G.14.0240; G-14.0450) shall examine each candidate’s calling, gifts, preparation, and suitability for the responsibilities of office. The examination shall include, but not be limited to, a determination of the candidate’s ability and commitment to fulfill all requirements as expressed in the constitutional questions for ordination and installation (W-4.4003). Governing bodies shall be guided by Scripture and the confessions in applying standards to individual candidates.”

My comments, there is much to like about the new phrasing, and in a perfect world, this would be the way I think the Reformers would want this. However, we live in a broken and sexually confused world. We live in a world where sexual sin is promoted as healthy, even holy. And so, in 1997, the church spoke to that with the adoption of G6.0106b. This is now deleted, and replaced by this other language, pending the adoption of the presbyteries. If the new language is defeated, I believe that the language reverts back to the original.

To be fair, the old language did seem aimed primarily at the folks who call themselves GLBTQ. It has been used primarily to keep them out of ordained positions. It has not been used, as far as I know, to not allow a sexually active single man or woman to become a pastor. So on the issue of fairness, there is a point to be made here. However, the explicit standard, I think, needs to be upheld.

Tonight had the makings of a huge problem for many of us who are more conservative. However, the Assembly adopted BOTH the Majority and Minority reports on Christian Marriage and Civil Unions. There was a late amendment to change all the references of "man and woman" in the marriage sections to "two people." In a surprising move, the YAAD's (Young Adult Advisory Delegates) seemed to vote for the more traditional view of marriage. So these reports are being sent to the presbyteries for study, dialogue, reflection. But you can be sure that this issue will come up again.

And it needs to. In some states, same sex couples can marry. What is the church's guidance for pastors in this case? Should they do the ceremony? Should they not? Should a church allow a same-sex "wedding" to take place in the sanctuary? It may be easy for you to answer this, but this is a live debate among pastors who want to hold biblical morality, and yet also provide pastoral care for those who come to them. Whatever might have happened with these proposals was covered by a blanket motion tonight, no doubt due to people being frazzled. So this issue will come back again.

Your San Gabriel representatives are doing very well. Heather Williams has been a trooper, as has her husband, Tudor, offering kind and affirming words to others. Tuey Lee (ALhambra True Light) and Jerry Porter (Covina First) have struggled with being elder commissioners. It has been hard to follow some of the parliamentary processes. But I love their spirit, of hanging in there, asking questions, trying to make sense of scripture and the leading of the Spirit.

There's no business like show business, and there are no politics like church politics. I remind you, we do not have a pope/dictator that tells us what to believe and do. Nor is it every man for himself in the congregational model. We have a reformed/presbyterian form of government, and we study and debate and do it with as much grace and dignity we can muster. And after six days together, nerves are getting a little frayed.

Much to my surprise and delight, the new moderator, Cindy Bolbach, and the assistant moderator, Matt Whitsitt, are doing very well keeping things moving. While I may not be in their corner on some issues, I really like how they have handled themselves in these very contentious debates. Grace under pressure, I liike what I see so far. May that same grit and determination serve them well in their two-year terms.

Lastly, ate at Hell's Kitchen tonight, but still no Dairy Queen.

Lastly plus one, after a long day tomorrow, when all is said and done, my committee will be back at work on, what else, the budget. Help me, Jesus! I appreciate your prayers, keep them up, please.

Signing off from the Minnie Apple. [SDG-JS]

Wednesday Evening, Voting and DQ Closed

2010-07-07T21:34:00.000-07:00

Saddest image of the week right here, friends. After a week with my family in which we went to DQ every day, I have not been to a DQ since they left last Friday. OK, so seven days without DQ makes one weak, I get it. So tonight, after dining with the fine folks of the San Gabriel presbytery (thanks for dinner, Ruth, it was great!), I walked one block to the USBank Building at 800 Nicollet Mall, went up the escalator to #205, and this is what I saw. Ah, the agony! Sometime between now and Saturday, I will get to this DQ before they close.

Here is Heather Williams sitting next to Dr. Jack Rogers at our San Gabriel Presbytery dinner tonight at The Newsroom.

I began the morning with the Presbyterians for Renewal Breakfast. Unlike last Saturday, this one actually served food. Whodathunk? It was nice to gather with these folks. Saw Doug Nason there, and he says "hello".

We heard Dr. Andrew Purves speak. He is professor at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, and Scottish. So he has that delightful Scottish brogue. Here are my notes:

Purves (PFR)
7-7-10

1. Conserving people- we conserve what we love and what is valuable

2. Traditioned people- we do not make up the Christian faith in each new generation, it is the faith once delivered to the saints. We anchor our current expressions of the faith in tradition.

Story of young priest who could not agree with everything in the Nicene Creed. Told to say it until he believes it. Not my creed, but our creed. Not my personal creed, but the creed of the church.

Our understanding of Jesus is far too small. Christological timidity. Our faith is too at home in our culture. Encounter with a living Lord, not an argument.

Four historical markers of Christology

A) Incarnation - downward movement - God saves in this way -God acts personally, not just what God does (mission), but who God is (theology) Can NEVER separate the two.

B) Resurrection- Jesus is alive, raised in the body, not a metaphor. Story of his son's birth announced at hid

C) Ascension- loss of this is fatal to Christian life- means he lives and acts now! Is Jesus in the room this morning? Living reigning acting Lord. Reinvigorate this in your teaching.

D) Holy Spirit- not just the power of the Spirit. Spirit joins us to Jesus- union with Christ, share in his life and his mission. Key emphasis by Calvin- union with Christ. [my comment- otherwise, the Holy Spirit is simply utilitarian, helping us do things.]

Good stuff, for 6:00 a.m. I am finding that I am still on California time, so I am staying up late, and getting up late if I can. But when I need to get up for a breakfast at 6:00 a.m., Lord help me! Our plenary sessions for the GA began this afternoon. We got ahead of schedule this afternoon, and then got a little bogged down tonight.

We tackled some easy stuff this afternoon. Eric Hoy made a great presentation on "Growing Christ's Church Deep and Wide". He showed a video of how one church is doing this. I love that his department is telling stories, and using videos to do it. Eric spoke well, and looks really good, too. He looks very relaxed, and seems to have found a good and productive spot in Lousiville. Click on the link to see some of the videos produced by this department. Here is one shown at tonight, called "Where are the youth?"

Left: your San Gabriel Presbytery Commissioners hard at work. From the right, Jerry Porter (from Covina 1st Presbyterian), Heather Williams, and Dakota Santana-Grace (our Youth Advisory Delegate). There are also TSAD's (Theological Student Advisory Delegates), MAD's (Missionary Advisory Delegates), and EPAD's (Ecumenical Partners Advisory Delegates.) These all vote first on an issue to "advise" the delegates how to vote. Some wag proposed a new kind of advisory delegate: a PGAD, (Peanut Gallery Advisory Delegate). If you don't find that funny, it is because you are not sleep deprived in Minneapolis. I guarantee you, if you were here, you'd find it funny!

The tools of our trade are the voting keypads. Here is a screen shot of one, during our "training". They work well, when used correctly. The voting questions are placed on the video screen. The Advisory Delegates are asked to vote first. Their keypads will glow blue, and given options. Once they push an option, say, "2", their unit will respond with the word "Received". Pushing "2" before the blue light is on will invalidate the vote. And one can always change their vote, as long as the voting is "live".

The AD's are given about 20 seconds to vote, and then the results appear on the video screens. Then the delegates are allowed to vote in the same manner. Whatever fiasco we had on electing the moderator on Sunday night (she was going to win, as the momentum had shifted her way, it may have taken another round or two of voting), the kinks have been worked out. My committee, General Assembly Procedures, was the Guinea Pig group to test out the equipment. What we learned in using the equipment for three days has helped smooth out the techie details. Once a gearhead, always a gearhead.

A great way to begin our time together as a large group. Then we got to vote on some issues. We heard a report on PILP (Presbyterian Investment and Loan Program), and the wonderful things it is doing. In my former church in Highland Park, we benefited from a PILP loan. Presbyteries and individuals invest in PILP, and get a guaranteed rate of return. In turn the money is loaned out to churches needing loans for capital improvements or building. It is a great program.

After dinner, we turned our attention to controversy number one, called nFOG. This is a proposed New Form of Government. The contention among the Emergents and those who want to be more missional, is that the current book of Order is more like a Manual of Operations than a constitution. Whereas the US constitution has been amended 25 times (or so), the Book of Order (BOO for short) has been amended over 300 times since 1983 when the northern and southern churches reunited.

So the nFOG proposes a much stripped down form of government, and allows more local control of how things happen.

I spoke with an old colleague of mine at breakfast today. We worked for Inter Varsity in the Bay Area in the late 1970's and early 1980's. Gale is pretty conservative, and very thoughtful. He had initially been opposed to nFOG. But in the last year, and even in the last week of meeting, the committee has addressed many of the major concerns people have had. It is in no way a perfect document, and we only have one of those (and it has 66 books, right?) Anyway, Gale told me that he likes the nFOG document, and was leaning towards supporting it. This allayed my fears some.

As I had read it, I, too, liked much of the language. One thing I did not like is that our current BOO begins with a "who", "Jesus Christ is Head of the Church". nFOG begins with the church's mission. Personally, I do not believe we can talk about the "what" unless we talk about the "who". Dr. Purves would have agreed with that. As would Bohnhoeffer. (See his "Creation and Fall")

Nonetheless, after much heated but civil debate, the assembly approved nFOG. by about a 2-1 margin.

What does that mean? Well, like all controversial amendments or votes at the General Assembly, these things will be submitted to the presbyteries for ratification. As has happened in the past, some of these are affirmed by a majority of the presbyteries, and become part of the BOO. Some are defeated, and do not become part of the BOO.

I am not too concerned about the nFOG, really. But we will have to see how presbyteries vote on it. In its present form, I think it has some way to go before I would vote for it. I think it is about 80% of the way there. But the 20% bothers me. And yet, the majority has spoken, and we are off to the next task.

Well, it is now past midnight and I need to get up for another breakfast tomorrow, this one an Evangelism breakfast sponsored by our friend, Eric Hoy, and the speaker will be my old Inter Varsity boss, Steve Hayner, now president of Columbia Seminary. I am looking forward to that.

Goodnight, dear friends. Tomorrow is Heartbreak Hill day. In the Boston Marathon, there is a place called Heartbreak Hill. From wiki:

Heartbreak Hill is an ascent over 0.4 mile (600 m) of the Boston Marathon course, between the 20 and 21 mile marks, in the vicinity of Boston College. It is the last of four "Newton hills", which begin at the 16 mile mark. The Newton hills confound contestants (out of proportion to their modest elevation gain) by forcing a late climb after the downhill trend of the race to that point. Heartbreak Hill itself rises only 88 vertical feet (27 m), from an elevation of 148 feet at the bottom to an elevation of 236 feet at the top,^[11] but is positioned at a point on a marathon course where muscle glycogen stores are likely to be depleted—a phenomenon referred to by marathoners as "hitting the wall".

The nickname "Heartbreak Hill" originated with an event in the 1936 race. On this stretch, defending champion John A. Kelley caught race leader Ellison "Tarzan" Brown, giving Brown a consolatory pat on the shoulder as he passed. His competitive drive apparently stoked by this gesture, Tarzan Brown rallied, pulled away from Kelley, and went on to win—in the words of Boston Globe reporter Jerry Nason, "breaking Kelley's heart."^[12]

Tomorrow, we will deal with some very tough and emotional issues. It is Heartbreak Hill for the GA tomorrow. Whatever the outcome, each commissioner's spiritual resources will be depleted, and our dealing with one another may not be the best it can be. So pray for me, pray for all my brothers and sisters in Christ here, that we may seek the mind of Christ, seek to honor and worship Him, and live as His children. Goodnight. [SDG-JS]

Wednesday Morning, Gearing Up

2010-07-07T07:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday (Tuesday) was a grinding day, until 4:30. That's when my committee finally finished our business for the Assembly. Sort of. After the Assembly finishes its meeting Friday night, my committee will meet afterwards to discuss budget implications. Man, I knew serving for ten years on Administration and Finance at the Presbytery would come handy!

Today will be full. I had breakfast this morning with PFR, and heard Dr. Andrew Purves from Pittsburgh Seminary talk about the Four Markers of Our Faith. Love his Scottish accent and his sense of dry humor. Lunch will be with the folks from Fuller. Then at 1:30, the General Assembly will gather in a plenary session for the first time since Sunday to take up the business of the Assembly.

Oh, the PC(USA) has updated their website. It's about time. Check it out here, some of it is pretty cool and useful, especially the Bible reading section.

Some impressions of committee work, and then on the Assembly prognostications.

The committee work is both invigorating and mind-numbingly boring. Many of the issues before us were simply changing some words in the Book of Order. This is regular house keeping. For example, last year, there was a committee name change, and in the name change "Interfaith" was replaced with "Inter-religious". The implication is that "interfaith" refers to relations between Christians, for example, Methodists or Episcopalians. "Inter-Religious" means relationships with those who are religious, but not in the broader Christian family, like Buddhists, or Hindus, or Muslims. However, the name change on the committee was not reflected throughout the Book of Order, so we were asked to make changes throughout the BOO to reflect the change. Exciting, huh?

Some of the changes were more substantial. There was a motion to limit the scope of the Overture Advocate. When an overture comes to the General Assembly, it is parceled out to the appropriate committee. And the presbytery submitting the overture has the opportunity to send someone to GA as the overture advocate, who will both lobby for its passage, but be a resource person to answer questions about the overture. We thought it inappropriate to limit the input of the overture advocate beyond the limits put on anyone speaking to the committee.

My impression, after two days with the committee, is that people try to work together There are different understandings of many issues, but there is a willingness to debate and change minds, and to achieve clarity. I was deeply moved by people who had strong opinions on an overture, and then changed their minds because of the evidence, or because things were made clear.

Another impression is that the COGA (Committee on Office of the General Assembly) overtures were passed, and those proposed by presbyteries were almost always rejected or referred. Due to the nature of the COGA overtures as cleaning up the BOO and bringing clarity, this makes sense. But I got the sense that the deck was stacked in the favor of the COGA. They had several full-time resource with us all day, and that lent itself to more persuasion. So the cynic in me wants to believe that this is just a dog and pony show.

However, my impression is that many overtures from presbyteries are akin to advocating for a cow to bark. The nature of cows is to moo, not bark. And the nature of the General Assembly is to do certain things, and not other things. So that is why many of the overtures from Presbyteries, as good as they are as ideas, simply will not fly. That's the positive spin on it. We simply have to understand better how the GA works in order to reform it. It is like someone who wants to instruct me about how better to prepare for preaching. I have been doing this for years, and I hope am open to new ideas and new ways to prepare. But for someone who is not a preacher and has not preached to advise me on preparation for preaching seems a bit odd, and mostly I would reject the advice, with appreciation. And the COGA folks have all been gracious in their appreciation, but also firm in their opinions about why something would not work.

However, as positive a spin as this is, I cannot get away from a feeling that this is a small turf war. There seems to be an attitude of "this is our church" and "don't tell us how to run the church." It is not blatant, but I saw glimpses of it. There seems to be an attitude that the General Assembly is doing the work of the church. Well, I would disagree. It is you, dear brothers and sisters, who are doing the work of the church by teaching children, caring for the sick and the needy, praying for God's will to be done, etc.

I talked with a long-time colleague this morning, and he expects the New Form of Government (nFOG) to pass. This would be a mild to severe upset, as no one really expected this to pass this time around. However, the new moderator was on that committee, and according to my friend, Gale, who has been sitting in on that committee, many of the criticisms that have been leveled against the nFOG have been addressed in the committee. We shall see.

If I had to guess, the Middle East Study Report will be approved, with some revisions. I believe the Report on Christian Marriage and Civil Unions will pass as well, which does not change anyone's definition of anything as far as I can tell. And I think the ordination standards will remain the same, though it would not surprise me a bit if G-6.0106b is overturned. However, for that to happen, I believe it would have to be sent to the presbyteries for another vote. We've only been discussing this since 1978 in San Diego, so why not?

I will try to blog as things progress this afternoon and evening. The power of the church is not at the national level. The power of thc church comes from God's people, filled with the Spirit, empowered to do God's work in the world. Overtures and debates are necessary, I suppose. But they are a poor substitute for the fruit of the Spirit.

Thanks for your continued prayers for Heather and me, and all the commissioners here in Minneapolis. Oh, the people from the San Gabriel Presbytery will be meeting for dinner tonight, so if there are issues to report from that gathering, I will pass those on as well. Thank you, dear APC family, for your support.

Monday, The Work Really Begins

2010-07-05T21:15:00.000-07:00

Imagine yourself at a session meeting, discussing church policies and procedures. For ten hours. That was my day. Morning, afternoon, and tonight until 10:00 p.m. local time, I joined 52 other commissioners with a moderator, a co-moderator, and a parliamentarian, to discuss all sorts of issues. My brain is fried.

Most General Assembly business in committees happens on Monday and Tuesday, which is why you will hear very little news for these two days. The behind the scenes wrangling and amending and proposing and voting and discussing all happens early in the week. There are 19 committees meeting here. Most are about 40-50 members. Imagine a session meeting, trying to do business, with that many people!

We looked at a lot of things today, and I have no wishes to rehash what we did tonight. Instead, I will share with you some pictures I have taken, and make a few more observations.

Worst news of the day was losing my meal card. At this General Assembly, we were given credit cards which are good for a month. They are actually more like debit cards, in that they have a fixed amount on them. Mine had $240 loaded on, based on $12 for breakfast, $12 for lunch, and $21 for dinner for each meal that was not already covered by the GA. I used it at lunch today, and stupidly put it in my shirt pocket rather than my wallet. When I went to dinner this evening, I pulled out my wallet to pay, and it was not there. Doh! So I had to call the credit card company, and I need to talk to someone here tomorrow morning. I hope I can get a new one, less the $20+ I have already spent on this card.I am usually VERY careful with money like this. Blame it in the ten-hour committee meetings!

As I walked downtown Minneapolis, I walked past the Foshay tower. When I grew up here, the Foshay Tower was the tallest building in Minneapolis, and probably in Minnesota. It has since been surpassed numerous times. And yet, for those of us who remember, the Foshay Tower was a huge building. It is like the PC(USA) in a way. We used to be a large six million person denomination, and yet now are down to about two million. Maybe this is also a little like APC. We used to have several thousand members, and now have less than 400. Do we really have the right, PC(USA) or APC, to strut around thinking we are all that, based on our former glory? I pray not.

This is the sign outside my committee room. Our room is 101DE, which means 101D and 101E put together. Pretty fancy stuff, yeah? I have liked the people I am with for the most part. There are a few annoying people. One of the guys, Eric, who ran for Moderator sits right next to me. Steve sits down the row, he is from the Shenango Presbytery. Shenango actually once sent a mission team to our church in Highland Park, for which we were very grateful. In front of me is Matt, who is from Northern Kansas. He moved there to get away from his dad (a seminary president) and brother (a seminary professor). Matt is just a pastor. Well, his dad and brother are now in the Northern Kansas Presbytery. Good luck, Matt. Across the way is Taylor, whose grandmother passed away today in Seattle. We prayed for her. In the corner by me is Belle, from Atlanta. Great name for someone from the South, eh? Some really fine folks, really.

This was the sign outside when I went to dinner tonight. It had just rained, so the humidity was about 95%. I love the smell after a midwestern rain. And 75 is about the coolest it has been here all week.

Well, that's the news from Lake Wobegon. It is all my tired body and brain can take.

I will ask you to pray for me, as I am not sleeping well, and all the walking (several miles a day back and forth from the hotel to the Convention Center) is really hurting my legs. Of course, not enough that I will actually do anything about it, like go see a DOCTOR.

Pray for Taylor as well, she and her grandma were very close. And pray for our group to draw together and talk about ministry rather than just business. And pray for all the GA committees that we might listen to the Spirit, and have the mind and courage of Christ.

God bless you, my praying APC family!

Sunday, Worship and Committees Begin

2010-07-04T21:05:00.000-07:00

General Assembly kicked off this morning with a two hour worship service. Very creative, artistic, beautiful, and well designed. A huge choir sang, three worship bands played. Prayers were made in three languages. A baby was baptized. Communion was served.

The theme of the Assembly comes from John 7:37-43, with the emphasis on verses 37-38.

³⁷On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. ³⁸Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." ³⁹By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
⁴⁰On hearing his words, some of the people said, "Surely this man is the Prophet."
⁴¹Others said, "He is the Christ."
Still others asked, "How can the Christ come from Galilee? ⁴²Does not the Scripture say that the Christ will come from David's family and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?" ⁴³Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. ⁴⁴Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.

The worship service was built around the image of water. Water is abundant in Minnesota in lakes and streams. So this water is a visual reminder of God's gifts to this part of the world. Tribal dancers, people dressed as a bear, and eagle, and other animals paraded into the hall. It was all quite lovely from an artistic point of view. But I confess I don't understand "art". I know, I know, art is to be appreciated more than understood. I cannot help who I am. So this kind of artsy worship service has great appeal to many people, just count me as one to whom this seems all rather strange and a bit foreign to the gospel. I blame only myself for this, and not the worship planners nor participants. (I will, however, continue to gripe about the slides, as there were at least two or three slides in the worship service that had serious typos in them. Who edits these ahead of time? Doesn't anyone care about spelling and grammar anymore?)

That said, I came away, however, slightly less than enthralled. In my opinion, there was too much "being Presbyterian" and not enough "Jesus." Don't get me wrong. The Triune God was worshiped in word and song. Great hymns were sung. The Apostles' Creed was recited. But there seemed to be intentionally more promotion of how Presbyterians do things, than just worshiping the Lord in the Presbyterian way.

The sermon was fine, as far as it went. Our now former moderator, Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow, is a charming and engaging speaker. He tells good stories, and has interesting points to make. Points worth remembering and putting into action. However, there was barely a reference to God's Word in his whole sermon. And personally, I don't care who is preaching, my interest is in hearing a Word from God than words from any person. I do not need everything to be proof-texted, and a verse for every point. But the sermon seemed to come more from the experience of the former moderator than from God's holy and eternal Word. So while it was engaging, clever, funny, and almost profound, I found the foundation of the sermon to be on shaky ground.

Do I come across too negative? I hope not. I know how hard it is to preach, and the labor one needs to put into making a sermon sing. And I know that while Calvin valued the sermon, it was only a part of the liturgical whole, whereby the people of God worship Almighty God. I value great preaching, and am usually disappointed in much preaching I hear. Heck, I am mostly disappointed in my own spotty preaching. So a so-so sermon does not ruin worship for me, as the whole service is designed to assist worship. And indeed, what we do after the Benediction is a more accurate indicator of whether we have truly worshiped than any emotional or spiritual experience we may have had in the service.

I know this is General Assembly. I know this is a more formal worship service than the one for the local church. There were several thousand people at the service. And much of it was lovely and moving. It's just that, for me, I wanted more of Jesus.

My committee, Committee Three, General Assembly Procedures met for the first time after a lovely lunch. I must say, the commissioners are really treated right for the first few days of the Assembly. We are welcomed warmly. Travel and hotel are paid for. Several meals are hosted just for us. And we are given a General Assembly Credit card with a $240 limit on it that expires at the end of July. I suppose the old way of paying for meals and travel ourselves, and then turning in receipts, and then being reimbursed, well, that's a lot of work. So this seems to be easier. There is also a collection going on here of socks and undergarments for homeless folks. Big baskets by the registration center are collecting these items, and they will be distributed locally. Gratefully, there is a Target two blocks from the hotel, so I did not have to pack anything on the plane! But I digress.

Ah yes, Committee Three. We did some introductory work today, got to know each other, set down some of the ground rules of our business, and looked at some very brief and very minor business. Tomorrow will begin the hard work of working through overtures and referrals presented to the General Assembly by Presbyteries and Synods. We will vote some down in committee. We will rework others and pass them on to the whole assembly for a vote. Should be an interesting week.

Our Committee work will be Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday morning appears to be "off", and then we will then meet as the whole Assembly beginning Wednesday afternoon to vote on all these matters.

I will have more substantive things to report tomorrow.

I want to conclude by saying that I am impressed with how friendly people are here, and how helpful the locals are. The COLA (Committee on Local Arrangements) has done a superb job at providing for our every need. My fellow committee people are rather nice. Some are veterans, and the rest of us have that "deer in the headlights" look about us. It would be a great idea for presbyteries to send people as observers to one GA, and underwrite some of their cost, and then send them to the following GA as commissioners. I attended the GA in Richmond in 2004, and even that experience has helped me greatly cope with this GA, though I am looking into headlights with my other committee colleagues.

Keep up your prayers for grace, and for discernment, and for wisdom, and for courage to stand up for Jesus Christ as we apprehend Him to be. [SDG-JS]

A New Moderator Is Elected

2010-07-03T22:31:00.000-07:00

The PC(USA) has a new Moderator, Cindy Bolbach. See her web site for more information here. You can see the Presbyterians for Renewal evaluation of her here.

The voting process was atrocious. Many of our electronic voting devices were malfunctioning. This was an issue in San Jose, and you'd think the GA folks would get it right after two years, right?

At one point after the second ballot, a motion was made to "vote someone off the island." That is, to throw out the lowest vote getter in each round. The motion was properly seconded, and then voted on. With all 712 delegates there, it needed 475 to pass. 391 voted for the motion, so it failed. Then one brave commissioner essentially asked if all the votes were being counted. Meaning, a 2/3 majority needed to pass the motion, but 2/3 of what number? If it was the total of votes cast, the 391 would surely have been at least 2/3. So we proceeded for some time with some "experiments" on how many people were actually voting electronically. The results for each "test" did not reassure us that the system properly functioned. However, on the fourth ballot, the election was closed, as one candidate had achieved over 50% of the vote. As a sidebar, I cannot imagine how long this would have taken by hand, even with Scantron cards or some such device.

My impressions. Of the six candidates, I had Bolbach personally listed as #5. However, there were some strengths in her.

She was the only elder, and she kept her answers short. (Any preachers out there paying attention??) She had also been a part of a company that transformed from communicating by paper to a company that went completely electronic, and she led the way, so she has some leadership skills. Her answers were self-effacing, and showed great self-awareness. For example, one question was, "What would be the result if you were NOT elected moderator?" Her answer: "Complete and utter chaos." The assembly roared with laughter.

However, she was not an inspiring speaker, and her candidating speech was pretty plain. Of more concern to me was her support of gay marriage. She didn't come right out and say it, but she did answer a question about the issue in a straightforward way, indicating that with five states and the District of Columbia now legalizing same-sex marriage, the church needs to "do something" about this. The More Light Presbyterians (who favor gay ordination and marriage) and one of their supporters John Shuck, rated Bolbach as the second most gay-friendly candidate for moderator.

This concerns me only a little. The moderator is a figurehead, and while has some bully pulpit opportunities, can do nothing by herself concerning the situation other than persuade others.

Of the other candidates, Julia Leeth, the sixth candidate from Santa Barbara Presbytery, and the dark horse conservative, did surprisingly well. She gave good answers, and garnered the second most votes, and was actually gaining some momentum when Bolbach broke the 50% barrier on the 4th ballot.

Rev. Dr. Jin S. Kim was my second favorite. He is a Korean pastor of Church of All Nations in Minneapolis. He is wicked smart and really funny, in a dry way. But his answers were very dark. He essentially followed Phyllis Tickle in spanking the PC(USA) for how we do things, and that we need to get radical. I liked him immediately, but he was not a good figurehead for the next two years. He said his critiques of the church were a "lover's quarrel." To the question, "What would be the result if you were NOT elected moderator?" His answer: "Nothing. Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church." I was disappointed he didn't get more votes.

The only other candidate who stood out to me was Rev. Maggie Palmer Lauterer. She was rated as the most gay-friendly candidate, and clearly (to me) did the best of all the candidates in answering questions. She was winsome, charming, told stories, and really presented herself well. She, too, was for gay marriage, but in the end, she was unable to articulate this clearly, and I think lost some of the YAD votes.

You can see the other candidates here.

Overall, an interesting process. As I pray daily for the President of the United States, whether I voted for him or not, I will pray for the Moderator.

It will be a tough week for her. And Bruce Reyes-Chow will be a tough act to follow. He has been an excellent moderator. I do not agree with him on much theologically, but he "gets" modern culture and the ways to communicate. I think Bruce, the techie moderator, has done a very fine job.

It has been increasingly aggravating to me to see how poorly conservatives package our message. The evangelical gospel is really good news. The progressive gospel is far more humanistic and I think ultimately narcissistic. And yet, time after time, our message comes across badly.

For the Five Tuesdays in June, the Presbyterian Outlook did a series of Webinars on hot button issues for this General Assembly. I saw four of them. And in each case, the "progressive" side had a more focused presentation, and a presentation that was well put together. The evangelical presentations looked like the Powerpoints were made by second graders. I cannot begin to tell you how insulting that is for folks watching a Webinar! (A webinar is a live seminar on the web, hence, web-inar. Get it?)

Look, if this was being presented to the folks back home in rural North Carolina, perhaps white backgrounds and multiple fonts and cheesy clip-art would go over just great. "Look, ma, the preacher has a Powerpoint thingy!" But for techie folks who would actually login to a Webinar, they expect not just good content, but also Powerpoints and graphics that look like someone actually put some thought into it.

And the response is always the same. "The Bible says....." This is terrific, and I whole-heartedly agree with their points. But there are no stories of how this truth of the gospel actually has changed people's lives. There is no aspirational content to the pitch, just scare-'em's about "if we don't vote this way, things will really get bad."

So both the message and the delivery of the message is actually out of sync with an audience who is relatively open to hearing the arguments. Folks, we simply must do better.

Side note last: I believe the GA tech team is using MediaShout. And they have really had problems. Delays of longer than a few seconds between slides being used for a litany are common. More egregious to me are the typo's. I have counted over a dozen so far. Tonight during the commissioning was one like, "you are commissioned too pray....." Huh? I intend to talk with the tech team tomorrow about this. (Thanks for the lessons, Rich!) It is really inexcusable at a national conference with two years to prepare, that simple Powerpoint slides have typo's in them. It reflects poorly on us, I am afraid.

I did see Heather and Tudor today, along with Eric Hoy, and Grace and Dakota Santana-Grace, and Sandy Tice, and Andy Wilson, pastor of La Crescenta Presbyterian Church where Jeff DeSurra is serving this summer.

Well, it is 12:30 a.m. Minnesota time, and I best get to bed. Tomorrow is a bit more relaxed, with morning worship and communion at 10:00 a.m., then lunch, then business until 4:30 p.m., then a picnic and fireworks at Nicollet Island. Sounds fun! [SDG-JS]

Saturday, General Assembly About to Begin

2010-07-03T09:54:00.000-07:00

Good morning. A very early morning for me, as I awoke at 6:00 a.m. to attend a breakfast hosted by Presbyterians for Renewal. Took a quick shower, and walked the six blocks to the Hyatt. Having been promised breakfast in the pre-GA advertisements, I was surprised to find only coffee. I know some of you can live on coffee, but it is not one of my basic food groups. (In MN, for me, those would be Dairy Queen, Old Dutch, Jimmy John's, and Honey Crisp Apples.) I guess there will be surprises at this GA after all. I just wish the surprises had the decency to occur at a more respectable hour.

However, my walk was not wasted. PFR began with a scripture reading from Romans 8, then "Great is Thy Faithfulness", then a heartfelt prayer. I was grateful that we did not launch directly into the politics thing. If we conservative evangelicals have anything to say, it comes out of our relationship with Jesus Christ, not our political acumen.

That said, there were helpful presentations about key issues each GA committee will face. Overtures submitted by the presbyteries are given to GA committees, who recommend them to the whole GA for a vote, or revise them to present for a vote, or they just "die" in committee, I believe. I will know more later tomorrow about that whole process.

I then went to one of the Office of the General Assembly sponsored "Riverside Conversations", see the list here. The first was described as follow:

Equipping the Church for Ministry with God's Diverse Family
Sharing the gospel, nurturing disciples and building the church in today’s complex multi‐cultural, multiracial society requires new skills. Come learn about some of the tools and resources available to Presbyterians who seek to meet this challenge and continue the Presbyterian Church’s long standing commitment to address racism.

I had reasonably high hopes for this, and was grossly disappointed. We heard four speakers, and all talked about dealing with racism. Nothing at all about "Sharing the gospel, nurturing disciples and building the church in today’s complex multi‐cultural, multiracial society requires new skills." Just the same old same old diatribes against racism.

Now look, I confess that I am a racist. I also confess that you are too! But the only way out of our racism is through a common relationship to Jesus Christ. And the joys and pitfalls of working multi-culturalloy were never even hinted at. There were some white folks from the rural Carolina's who confessed their own racism, well, actually their "church's" racism, and bemoaned their white privileged guilt. Can we PLEASE move on from the 60's with the white guilt already? And can we PLEASE move on to working with one another to further the cause of Christ in the world? (Like we are doing at APC. We are really, no joke, the cutting edge of what God is doing in the world.) Much more to be said about this "conversation", but I will get into trouble if I go any further. I applaud the attempt to have the conversation, but they are 30 years behind the times on this issue, I am afraid.

I've met some great people. I met a guy who was the youth pastor who followed one of my mentors in San Jose. I met the parish associate from Carson City, where our friend Sandy Norris attends. I have seen Ruth Santana-Grace and her son, Dakota, as well as ex-Ambler Eric Hoy. I have seen Tudor Williams, but not Heather, yet. After lunch, the General Assembly starts in earnest.

Here is another very unprofessional video about the Skyways in Minneapolis. Enjoy!

Pray for us as we seek the Lord, and His Kingdom! More later. [SDG-JS]

Friday, D-Minus-One to General Assembly

2010-07-02T11:45:00.000-07:00

Good afternoon. Jim Stochl reporting from Minneapolis, where the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church will be convening tomorrow. I am testing out my video production skills without the able assistance of either Jonathan nor Kimo, but we'll see how this goes.

My hotel is two blocks from the Convention Center. I will wander over there this afternoon to check things out. Right now, though, I will head over the the USBank Building, and check out the Dairy Queen!

The Primacy of Faith

2010-06-22T02:25:00.000-07:00

Another fine post at the Gospel Coalition web site. Anyone who can quote Kierkegaard is worth reading!

From Ray Ortlund today at his blog “Christ is Deeper Still“:

The Christian life is not most profoundly a matter of ethics; most profoundly, it is a matter of faith. Abraham trusted God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. As Kierkegaard points out in The Sickness Unto Death, “The opposite of sin is not virtue but faith. Whatever is not of faith is sin (Romans 14:23).”

Ethics we can manage on our own. We can even observe biblical ethics to keep God at a safe distance. But if our hearts are believing the promises of God, we cannot say no to him. We yield to him. We suffer dislocation in this world for his sake. We feel the ground shifting under our feet and we don’t panic. Nothing seems stable, but we accept that. We surrender to God. Drawn on toward his promises, we start changing.

The most urgent question in our lives today is not moral versus immoral but true versus false, heavenly versus earthly, divine promise versus human control, trust versus possession.
Good news for sinners.

How true this is. The human sin tends to be self-reliance, rather than God-reliance. There is much "do-it-yourself" religion, even among those of us who know better. We know the absolute futility of ultimate success in the self-help movement. We know we can change our behaviors, but can we change our hearts? [SDG-JS]

Why Can’t We Just Read the Bible?

2010-06-22T02:18:00.000-07:00

This is a great post over at the Gospel Coalition web site.This has some good suggestions, and some wise counsel. I especially like the Lloyd-Jones remarks to medical students. Enjoy!

The latest issue of Modern Reformation transcribes Michael Horton’s 2003 interview of Don Carson about hermeneutics and theological method: “Why Can’t We Just Read the Bible? An Interview with D. A. Carson.” Modern Reformation 19:4 (July–August 2010): 32–35, 43.

Horton’s questions include these:

Doesn’t sola Scriptura—Scripture alone—imply that all I really need to do is read my Bible?
Do you think there has been a lot of polarization where systematicians aren’t always very good exegetes and exegetes aren’t very good systematicians?
I think of the person sitting at home thinking about the benefits of doing what you’re talking about here but doesn’t have the foggiest idea of where to begin, and so just reading the one-minute Bible devotional every day is about as much as can be handled at this point. How do you stretch that person to go the next step and what resources would you recommend?

The beginning of Carson’s answer to that last question above may serve some young mothers well:

Martyn Lloyd-Jones once spoke with a group of medical students who complained that in the midst of their training and the ferocious work hours they really didn’t even have time to read the Bible and have their devotions and so on. He bristled and said, “I am a doctor. I have been where you are. You have time for what you want to do.” After a long pause he said, “I make only one exception: the mother of preschool-aged children does not have time and emotional resources.”

It is important to recognize, too, that there are stages of life where you really don’t have time to do much, and you shouldn’t feel guilty about it. Children will sap you. If you have three children under the age of six, forget serious reading unless you have the money for a nanny. When our youngest finally went off to kindergarten, we celebrated that day—I took my wife out for lunch. Only then could she get back into reading again. It’s the way life is. You have to be realistic.

As the article says, Read the whole thing. [SDG-JS]

Counterfeit Gospels

2010-03-19T22:31:00.000-07:00

New pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, Tullian Tchividjian, has posted a great challenge concerning counterfeit gospels here. Here is an excerpt from his post at the Gospel Coalition.

In light of Paul Tripp coming to Coral Ridge this weekend, I’ve gone back through a lot of my Paul Tripp books–he’s such a huge gift to the church!

In one of his books (co-authored with Tim Lane), How People Change, he identifies seven counterfeit gospels—-”religious” ways we try and “justify” or “save” ourselves apart from the gospel of grace. I found these unbelievably helpful. Which one (or two, or three) of these do you tend to gravitate towards?

Formalism. “I participate in the regular meetings and ministries of the church, so I feel like my life is under control. I’m always in church, but it really has little impact on my heart or on how I live. I may become judgmental and impatient with those who do not have the same commitment as I do.”
Legalism. “I live by the rules—rules I create for myself and rules I create for others. I feel good if I can keep my own rules, and I become arrogant and full of contempt when others don’t meet the standards I set for them. There is no joy in my life because there is no grace to be celebrated.”
Mysticism. “I am engaged in the incessant pursuit of an emotional experience with God. I live for the moments when I feel close to him, and I often struggle with discouragement when I don’t feel that way. I may change churches often, too, looking for one that will give me what I’m looking for.”
Activism. “I recognize the missional nature of Christianity and am passionately involved in fixing this broken world. But at the end of the day, my life is more of a defense of what’s right than a joyful pursuit of Christ.”
Biblicism. “I know my Bible inside and out, but I do not let it master me. I have reduced the gospel to a mastery of biblical content and theology, so I am intolerant and critical of those with lesser knowledge.”
Therapism. “I talk a lot about the hurting people in our congregation, and how Christ is the only answer for their hurt. Yet even without realizing it, I have made Christ more Therapist than Savior. I view hurt as a greater problem than sin—and I subtly shift my greatest need from my moral failure to my unmet needs.”
Social-ism. “The deep fellowship and friendships I find at church have become their own idol. The body of Christ has replaced Christ himself, and the gospel is reduced to a network of fulfilling Christian relationships.”
As I said two weeks ago in my sermon, there are outside-the-church idols and there are inside-the-church idols. It’s the idols inside the church that ought to concern Christians most. It’s easier for Christians to identify worldly idols such as money, power, selfish ambition, sex, and so on. It’s the idols inside the church that we have a harder time identifying.

For instance, we know it’s wrong to bow to the god of power—but it’s also wrong to bow to the god of preferences. We know it’s wrong to worship immorality—but it’s also wrong to worship morality. We know it’s wrong to seek freedom by breaking the rules—but it’s also wrong to seek freedom by keeping them. We know God hates unrighteousness—but he also hates self-righteousness. We know crime is a sin—but so is control. If people outside the church try to save themselves by being bad; people inside the church try to save themselves by being good.

The good news of the gospel is that both inside and outside the church, there is only One Savior and Lord, namely Jesus. And he came, not to angrily strip away our freedom, but to affectionately strip away our slavery to lesser things so that we might become truly free!
As I said two weeks ago in my sermon, there are outside-the-church idols and there are inside-the-church idols. It’s the idols inside the church that ought to concern Christians most. It’s easier for Christians to identify worldly idols such as money, power, selfish ambition, sex, and so on. It’s the idols inside the church that we have a harder time identifying.

For instance, we know it’s wrong to bow to the god of power—but it’s also wrong to bow to the god of preferences. We know it’s wrong to worship immorality—but it’s also wrong to worship morality. We know it’s wrong to seek freedom by breaking the rules—but it’s also wrong to seek freedom by keeping them. We know God hates unrighteousness—but he also hates self-righteousness. We know crime is a sin—but so is control. If people outside the church try to save themselves by being bad; people inside the church try to save themselves by being good.

The good news of the gospel is that both inside and outside the church, there is only One Savior and Lord, namely Jesus. And he came, not to angrily strip away our freedom, but to affectionately strip away our slavery to lesser things so that we might become truly free!

I really, really like that last paragraph! How many are you tempted to believe instead of the biblical gospel of Jesus Christ? [SDG-JS]

Dr. Mouw on the Belhar Confession

2010-03-11T14:50:00.000-08:00

One of the issues facing our denomination this summer in Minneapolis will be lack of mosquito repellent. Oh, excuse me, my mind was wandering a bit back to my childhood encounters with what is affectionately known as the "Minnesota Air Force."

Actually, one of the issues facing us will be the adoption of the Belhar Confession into our Book of Confessions. Presbyterians are people of three books. Our primary book is the Bible, the Word of God. Our second is the Book or Confessions, which are faithful expositions of what scripture teaches, and guides for the church through the ages. Two creeds are universally acknowledged by Christian. Two are Protestant. And the other seven are from the Reformed stream.

The Belhar Confession comes from South Africa. You can read it here.It was written in a suburb of Johannesburg called Belhar in 1982, and was adopted by the Dutch Reformed Church in 1986. Originally written in Afrikaans, it has been translated into English. The themes of Belhar are unity, reconciliation and justice. You can imagine that these would be pressing issues in South Africa in the early to mid-1980's.

Dr. Richard Mouw (President of Fuller Theological Seminary) has a great reflection on this subject here. His concerns are more succinct than my own, so I will highlight just a section of his writing.

I have said in the past that I don’t think this is a good idea, for at least three reasons. One is that some folks have seen Belhar, which had its origins in South Africa as an important theological word against apartheid, as now serving the cause of promoting same-sex ordinations and unions. A second is that I do not find Belhar sufficiently explicit in grounding its important message in biblical authority. And the third is that I worry about an ongoing confessional drift in those denominations, and wonder how adding yet another confessional document will mean anything important where there is already widespread ignorance of—and in some cases overt hostility toward—specific teachings in the existing confessional documents.

I think he nails it pretty well, especially the "confessional drift" in the denomination. If we are not holding biblical/confessional standards now, why add another confession? Thanks, Dr. Mouw, for a timely and thoughtful reflection. [SDG-JS]

Egypt 2010 Day 14

2010-02-15T01:28:00.001-08:00

Egypt 2010 Day 13

2010-02-13T22:33:00.001-08:00

Egypt 2010 Day 8

2010-02-09T02:35:00.000-08:00

Egypt 2010 Day 7

2010-02-07T23:01:00.001-08:00

Updated Schedule

2010-02-06T22:21:00.000-08:00

Egypt Travel Schedule for Pastor Jim and Kimo

Monday 02-08-10
Drive from Alexandria to Cairo

Wednesday 02-17-10
Fly from Cairo to Frankfurt on Lufthansa Air
Fly from Frankfurt to LAX on Lufthansa Air

Conference Schedule #1

Sunday 02-07-10

09:30-10:30
Worship Time

11:00-12:30
Using Media in worship
Kimo

14:-30-17:30
Lunch & Rest Time

17:30-19:00
Leadership Building and empowering teams
Pastor Jim

19:30-21:00
Spiritual Growth
Pastor Jim

Monday 02-08-10

09:30-10:30
Worship Time

11:00-12:30
Leading Children in Worship
Kimo

11:00-12:30
Raising a giving church (Stewardship)
Pastor Jim

Children’s Conference Cairo

Tuesday 02-09-10
Day 1 Workshops

Wednesday 02-10-10
Day 2 Workshops

Revival Meetings

Thursday 02-11-10
Kimo to Momma Maggie’s with St. Andrews Team morning
Kimo and Jim at Revival Meetings in the evening

Friday 02-12-10
Revival Meetings

Saturday 02-13-10
Revival Meetings

Sunday 02-14-10
Kimo to Ismailia with St. Andrews Team
Jim at Revival Meetings

Monday 02-15-10
Visit to Cairo Seminary and 15th of May Church

Tuesday 02-16-10
"Come over and Help us Conference" with Josh McDowell

Wednesday 02-17-10
Come Home

Egypt 2010 Day 6

2010-02-06T06:56:00.001-08:00

Egypt 2010 Day 5

2010-02-05T11:38:00.001-08:00

Egypt 2010 Day 4

2010-02-05T07:19:00.001-08:00

Day 3 Egypt 2010

2010-02-03T05:07:00.001-08:00

Day 2 Egypt 2010

2010-02-03T03:29:00.001-08:00

February 2, 2010
Day 2 Egypt Trip
We made it to London’s terminal one on time, we were a little worried that we would not be able to make it through London’s Passport security in time, since we only had about an hour and a half window to make it to our next gate which was in terminal three, we breezed on through the line, only to find out that our connecting flight to Cairo was about an hour delayed… So, we walked around terminal three which is basically an underground mall with all of the things that one Shopaholic might love to purchase, such as Tiffany’s, Giorgio Armani, and other really really expensive places to shop. We ended up getting a bite to eat at TGI Fridays, and off we were to Cairo. We got in about 9:30 pm Cairo time which is +2 GMT or ten hours ahead of LA, had no troubles making it through customs and got in to our hotel at about 11:45 pm. The internet of course was down, so I am typing this in word, which I am sure Jim Stochl is thankful of, because of spell check. It is now 1:47am +2GMT and I need to be up in 2 hours, so off to bed I go. We need to jump on another plane and head to the Luxor Training. Blessings on you!
Kimo Baker

Egypt 2010

2010-02-01T07:48:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! Many of you have asked for a detailed schedule of the Egypt 2010 trip. Please find it below this message. Pastor Jim and I leave for the airport at 1:00pm TODAY! We are both very excited to see how God will use us and speak to us. Your prayers are much welcomed and needed.
Blessings on you,
Kimo Baker

Egypt Travel Schedule for Pastor Jim and Kimo

Monday 02-01-2010
Fly to London from LAX on United Airlines Flight 934

Tuesday 02-02-2010
Fly to Cairo from London on Egypt Air Flight 778
Wednesday 02-03-2010
Fly to Luxor from Cairo on Egypt Air

Friday 02-05-10
Fly from Luxor to Cairo on Egypt Air
Drive from Cairo to Alexandria

Monday 02-08-10
Drive from Alexandria to Cairo

Wednesday 02-17-10
Fly from Cairo to Frankfurt on Lufthansa Air
Fly from Frankfurt to LAX on Lufthansa Air

Conference Schedule #1

Wednesday 02-03-10
Training in Luxor

Thursday 02-04-10
Training in Luxor

Conference Schedule #2

Friday 02-05-10
19:30-21:00
Worship for all Ages
Kimo
Saturday 02-06-10
09:30-10:30
Worship Time

11:00-12:30
Principles and practice of worship leading
Kimo

13:00-14:30
Developing a vision, raising young leaders and elders
Pastor Jim

14:-30-17:30
Lunch & Rest Time

17:30-19:00
Basic pastoral counseling and family systems
Pastor Jim

19:30-21:00
Leading children in worship
Kimo

Sunday 02-07-10
09:30-10:30
Worship Time

11:00-12:30
Using Media in worship
Kimo

14:-30-17:30
Lunch & Rest Time

17:30-19:00
Leadership Building and empowering teams
Pastor Jim

19:30-21:00
Spiritual Growth
Pastor Jim

Monday 02-08-10
09:30-10:30
Worship Time

11:00-12:30
Raising a giving church (Stewardship)
Pastor Jim

Revival Meeting Schedule
Tuesday 02-09-10
Free Day

Wednesday 02-10-10
Revival Meetings start in Cairo

Thursday 02-11-10
Kimo to Momma Maggie’s with St. Andrews Team
Jim at Revival Meetings

Friday 02-12-10
Revival Meetings

Saturday 02-13-10
Revival Meetings

Sunday 02-14-10
Kimo to Ismailia with St. Andrews Team
Jim at Revival Meetings

Monday 02-15-10
Free Day

Tuesday 02-16-10
"Come over and Help us Conference" with Josh McDowell

Wednesday 02-17-10
Come Home

The Shack- Impressions from Tim Keller

2010-01-28T07:57:00.000-08:00

Many have read the book, "The Shack". Over seven million copies have been sold, and it has been incredibly popular in many Christian circles. Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, has some thoughts on "The Shack". They are well worth reading, as Keller is quite astute in his analysis and has a good feel for the gospel implications of the book. Here is the link, and below is Keller's post.

Over the holidays I read a good (and devastating) review of William P. (Paul) Young’s The Shack in the most recent print edition of Books and Culture: A Christian Review (Jan/Feb 2010.) It was a reminder that I was one of the last people on the planet not to have read the book. So I did. So why write a blog post about it? It had sold 7.2 million copies in a little over 2 years, by June of 2009. With those kinds of numbers, the book will certainly exert some influence over the popular religious imagination. So it warrants a response. This is not a review, but just some impressions.

At the heart of the book is a noble effort — to help modern people understand why God allows suffering, using a narrative form. The argument Young makes at various parts of the book is this. First, this world’s evil and suffering is the result of our abuse of free will. Second, God has not prevented evil in order to accomplish some glorious, greater good that humans cannot now understand. Third, when we stay bitter at God for a particular tragedy we put ourselves in the seat of the ‘Judge of the world and God’, and we are unqualified for such a job. Fourth, we must get an ‘eternal perspective’ and see all God’s people in joy in his presence forever. (The father in the story is given a vision of his deceased daughter living in the joy of Christ’s presence, and it heals his grief.) This is all rather standard, orthodox, pastoral theology (though it’s a bit too heavy on the ‘free-will defense’). It is so accessible to readers because of its narrative form. I have heard many reports of semi-believers and non-believers claiming that this book gave them an answer to their biggest objections to faith in God.

However, sprinkled throughout the book, Young’s story undermines a number of traditional Christian doctrines. Many have gotten involved in debates about Young’s theological beliefs, and I have my own strong concerns. But here is my main problem with the book. Anyone who is strongly influenced by the imaginative world of The Shack will be totally unprepared for the far more multi-dimensional and complex God that you actually meet when you read the Bible. In the prophets the reader will find a God who is constantly condemning and vowing judgment on his enemies, while the Persons of the Triune-God of The Shack repeatedly deny that sin is any offense to them. The reader of Psalm 119 is filled with delight at God’s statutes, decrees, and laws, yet the God of The Shack insists that he doesn’t give us any rules or even have any expectations of human beings. All he wants is relationship. The reader of the lives of Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and Isaiah will learn that the holiness of God makes his immediate presence dangerous or fatal to us. Someone may counter (as Young seems to do, on p.192) that because of Jesus, God is now only a God of love, making all talk of holiness, wrath, and law obsolete. But when John, one of Jesus’ closest friends, long after the crucifixion sees the risen Christ in person on the isle of Patmos, John ‘fell at his feet as dead.’ (Rev.1:17.) The Shack effectively deconstructs the holiness and transcendence of God. It is simply not there. In its place is unconditional love, period. The God of The Shack has none of the balance and complexity of the Biblical God. Half a God is not God at all.

There is another modern text that sought to convey the character of God through story. It also tried to ‘embody’ the Biblical doctrine of God in an imaginative way that conveyed the heart of the Biblical message. That story contained a Christ-figure named Aslan. Unlike the author of The Shack, however, C.S. Lewis was always at pains to maintain the Biblical tension between the divine love and his overwhelming holiness and splendor. In the introduction to his book The Problem of Pain, Lewis cited the example from the children’s text The Wind in the Willows where two characters, Rat and Mole, approach divinity.

“Afraid?” murmured the Rat, his eyes shining with unutterable love. “Afraid? of Him? O, never, never. And yet — and yet — O Mole, I am afraid.”

Lewis sought to get this across at many places through his Narnia tales. One of the most memorable is the description of Aslan.

“Safe?…Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

That’s better.

Dr. Tim Keller is the Senior Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Manhattan, NY and a Council member with The Gospel Coalition.

SDG- JS

Egypt 2010

2010-01-25T15:38:00.000-08:00

On February 1, 2010 Pastor Jim Conner and I (Kimo Baker) will be headed to Egypt with a team of 8 from St. Andrews Presbyterian Church of Newport Beach and the Arcadia Arabic Church. We will be teaching classes on leadership and training as well as classes on Sunday school.

We will also be visiting Momma Maggie and the children of Garbage City to show God’s love to them by playing games and telling them about Jesus. For a lot of them, this will be the first time that they will have a warm shower and a bed to sleep on. Please be praying that God’s will is on us, and that we are obedient to His calling.

We will return home on the 17th of February and will have a report to the church on the 28th. Please check in to this site daily to see how you can be praying for us, and to see pictures.

Blessings on you,

Kimo Baker

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

2009-12-23T10:15:00.001-08:00

Enjoy!

The Theology of the "Twilight" Series

2009-12-03T19:16:00.000-08:00

Russell Moore posts about this here. Some interesting stuff, really. I have not read the books, but thousands if not millions of young women HAVE read the books, and are seeing the movies. In particular, Moore cites John Granger's thoughtful article in Touchstone here. Specifically, Granger examines the Mormon theology behind the series. I found this fascinating, really, and will look more deeply into it. I preferred when people were drawn to the Harry Potter series, or the Narnia series, as I was on solid ground there. The "Twilight" series breaks new ground for me, and in order to understand the pulse of the culture, I am drawn to what interests the culture. [SDG - JS]

What Did You Learn Today?

2009-12-03T19:04:00.000-08:00

A simple, yet profound question posed by a pastor to his parishioner. Here are the five results.

What did you learn today?   The first dozen times I spent with Pastor Mark Driscoll he asked me the exact same question—"What did you learn today?"  
This did five things:

It forced me to consider the massive amount of information coming in and discern what's important.
It set me up in the habit of reflection on how God is moving and what he's teaching me.
It made me understand that I have a pastor who cares not just about what I do, but who God is shaping me to be.
It increased my awareness of the who, what, where, why, and when around me.
It pushed me to take on the identity of 'learner'.

I think these are profound insights. We are drowning in information, especially those of us who hang around the blogosphere. We may be more knowledgeable, but are we wiser? And is this knowledge based on fact or just the opinion of someone else?

And paying attention to the rhythms of God in our lives. We cannot do this at 65 mph. A relationship with God is not a fast food, speed dating sort of relationship. And if we do not reflect upon what we are learning, we lose the sense of God in our midst.

What did you learn today? [SDG - JS]

Counterfeit Gods: American Idols

2009-10-21T22:20:00.000-07:00

Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, has written a new book entitled "Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope That Matters".

There is a good interview with Tim concerning the book here. Some excerpts of the interview.

Do Christians have blind spots when it comes to false gods?
An idol is something you rely on instead of God for your salvation. One of the religious idols is your moral record: "God accepts me because I'm living a good life." I'm a Presbyterian, so I'm all for right doctrine. But you can start to feel very superior to everyone else and think, God is pleased with me because I'm so true to the right doctrine. The right doctrine and one's moral record are forms of power. Another is ministry success, similar to the idol of achievement. There are religious versions of sex, money, and power, and they are pretty subtle.

How does someone identify their idols?

Look at your daydreams. When you don't have to think about something, like when you are waiting for the bus, where does your mind love to rest? Or, look at where you spend your money most effortlessly. Also, if you take your most uncontrolled emotions or the guilt that you can't get rid of, you'll find your idols at the bottom. Whenever I hear someone say, "I know God forgives me, but I can't forgive myself," it means that person has something that is more important than God, because God forgives them. If you look at your greatest nightmare—if something were to happen that would make you feel you had no reason to live—that's a god.

How do we get rid of idols?

I confess that I don't say much about that. Practicing spiritual disciplines is another book. I do say that analyzing and recognizing an idol is a step away from its power over you. You also have to have a heck of a prayer life. That prayer life can't just be petitioning. There has to be encounter, experience, and genuine joy. You have to have Jesus Christ increasingly capture your affections.

Is it necessary to suffer disappointment before seeing that idols don't satisfy?

I fear you may be right. I don't want that to be true. Very often it's much stronger than disappointment. It's hard for me to look at a young person and know what their idols are, because usually something has to happen in their life to frustrate them for them to see that something has inordinate power over them. No one learned about their idols by being told about them.

Here is a brief video introduction to the book by Keller himself.

Read the whole interview, and then buy and read the book. Keller is one of our best American writers right now, and is very thoughtful and compelling. I am a fan. [SDG - JS]

Deep Church

2009-10-20T14:15:00.000-07:00

"Because we want glory for ourselves, we seek to find fault in others. Contentious people are always looking for something to argue about, some way to start controversy and disrupt the peace." from "Deep Church", by Jim Belcher.

Wow, this is deeply convicting for me, as I am prone to criticism and fault finding, and uttering things about "if I were king of the world, I wouldn't be so stupid/ignorant/arrogant/etc." Yikes!

A good review of this book is here, and I am just in the midst of reading it. As APC discusses the worship times and worship formats, this is a helpful guide about the issues involved.

[SDG - JS]

The Way of Simplicity

2009-10-20T14:13:00.000-07:00

Came across this at a great blog I just discovered, called The Gospel Coalition.

If we would find God amid all the religious externals, we must first determine to find him, and then proceed in the way of simplicity. Now as always God discovers himself to ‘babes’ and hides himself in thick darkness from the wise and the prudent. We must simplify our approach to him. We must strip down to essentials, and they will be found to be blessedly few. We must put away all effort to impress and come with the guileless candor of childhood. If we do this, without doubt God will quickly respond.-- A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God, page 18.

Some good stuff.

[SDG - JS]

Mark Roberts on the Power of the Internet

2009-10-19T19:44:00.000-07:00

Mark Roberts has a great post on the power of the internet here. Entitled "The Office, the Wedding, and the Power of the Internet", Mark reflects on the relationship between the recent episode of the hugely popular "The Office" and a real life wedding in St. Paul, MN.

In both weddings, the traditional processional music is replaced by Chris Brown's "Forever", with the wedding party joyfully dancing up the aisle. The original video just makes you want to smile! Really.

Mark's point, though, is this:

The video went immediately viral. A week after being posted, it had 6.6 million views on YouTube. As of a few days ago, it has over 26,000,000 views on YouTube, not counting the large number of views on copies of the video. My guess is that, after last weeks’s episode of The Office, the original video will get millions of new viewers.

So here’s what impresses me about the power of the Internet. Think about it. Less than three months ago, somebody put up a video of a small wedding featuring two ordinary and relatively unknown people. Last week, one of the most popular television programs imitated the opening moments of the wedding, and millions upon millions of viewers got the joke. Never before in the history of the world could something like this have happened. It’s rather stunning, if you stop and think about it.

Good news travels fast, doesn't it? Are we using all the tools the Lord has given us to reach people with the Good News? [SDG-JS]

The Bells Are RInging

2009-10-09T12:02:00.000-07:00

The bells are ringing again at APC. Thanks to the vision and initiative of our new receptionist, Carol Shaw, the bells are now ringing again.

Carol loves the sound of the bells, and researched how they might be brought back to life at APC. She discovered a computer and amplifier setup that was fairly inexpensive. The purchased was proposed and approved, and ordered. It arrived this week.

The system was installed this week by our tech man, Jonathan Kofahl, and the bells are chiming today on the hour. It is beautiful, sweet music.

Did you know the science of bell ringing is called "campanology"? No wonder the bell tower of my alma mater is called Sather Tower, or in common reference, the Campanile.

A church bell is a bell which is rung in a (especially Christian) church either to signify the hour or the time for worshippers to go to church, perhaps to attend a wedding, funeral, or other service. Before mass communication they were the only way to gather a village together, so they served for secular functions also. (wikipedia)

When I was the pastor at Faith United Presbyterian Church in Highland Park, we tried to resurrect our bell ringing. We had an old tape system with an endless loop. We tinkered with it one day, and got it to work. And all day, the bells rang on the hour.

The next morning, we got to church and discovered that the bells were ringing. And ringing. And ringing. evidently, they had been ringing all night long. We got into the office to discover our voicemail machine full of increasingly angry comments.

"Hi. Please turn your bells off, my kids are trying to sleep."

"Hi again, we'd really like your bells to stop ringing, it is now past midnight."

"Hey, if you don't turn those bells off, we are calling to cops."

"%@%$@#%@$#! I am going to get my gun and shoot someone if you don't turn those ^!@%%#! bells off right now!"

We shut off the bells, and eventually patched things up with our neighbors.

We are hoping this new system at APC will be a pleasant blessing to the community, and draw people to think about God on a regular basis. [SDG - JS]

The Dark Side of Bible Reading

2009-10-05T21:29:00.001-07:00

An interesting blog post by Jeremy Berg at "Jesus Creed" here, called "The Dark Side of Bible Reading."

In it, he infers that many of the youth he works with, and many adults as well, read the Bible as if THEY were the central figure in the story. And their overwhelming concern was how the Bible applies "to me." Evidently, if the Bible passage does not apply "to me", it must mean nothing, and I can safely discard it as irrelevant to my own life.

Ouch!

Berg's conclusion/challenge:

Instead, I would like to offer a different posture toward God's Word. In fact, it's the very opposite approach.
First, let's humbly approach God's Word as we would approach God himself. Let's reverently bow in awe and listen intently to what he is actually saying to us.
Instead of "applying the Bible to our lives" (which again assumes we are the fixed center point and the Word is just a holy ointment to be applied to our souls) let's instead try to "apply ourselves to the Bible." Put narratively, let's not let give God a convenient place within our own story; but rather find ourselves swept up in God's much larger Story!
Instead of bringing all of our concerns to the text and forcing it to speak to them, let's instead let God's concerns invite us out of our (relatively) petty preoccupations and into the realm of heavenly realities. "Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things" (Col 3:2). Or, as The Message Bible puts it: "Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ--that's where the action is. See things from his perspective." When we get a glimpse of "God reality" all of our own earthly concerns are seen in a new light.
Finally, personal application must come only AFTER one has given God's Word a fair hearing. Let God lead the conversation where He so desires. When we're done letting God's Word speak then we can ask the Spirit to give us a personal assignment in response to God's challenge.
I'm sure there is a better way to say all of this. But I hope you see my point. Now I wonder what you all think.

I really like these suggestions. What do you think? [SDG- JS]

Is the Era of Age Segmentation Over?

2009-09-24T10:21:00.000-07:00

Evie Knottnerus, the wife of Sam, our new Director of Children, Youth and Family Ministries, forwarded this article to me, and it is well worth reading. Some of the thoughts expressed ring true with some of our recent experiences. It is entitled, "Is the Era of Age Segmentation Over?" and can be found here.

In light of Tuesday night's discussion at the session about worship, this is really timely. Some of the key grafs that caught my eye (graf is an internet shorthand for paragraph)

What is the long-term impact of segregating teens?

A lot of kids aren't going to both youth group and church on Sundays; they're just going to youth group. As a result, graduates are telling us that they don't know how to find a church. After years at the kids' table, they know what youth group is, but they don't know what church is.

There are a lot of statistics regarding what happens to high school seniors when they graduate from a youth group. As I've looked at the research, my best estimate is that between 40 and 50 percent of seniors from youth groups really struggle to continue in their faith and connect with a faith community after graduation.

What can churches do to increase the likelihood that our kids stay in church after they graduate?

I think the future of youth ministry is intergenerational youth ministry.

At this point in our research, we've found that one thing churches can do that really makes a difference is getting kids actively involved in the life of the church before they graduate.

There is a strong link between kids staying in church after they graduate and their involvement in intergenerational relationships and worship. It's important, we're finding, to get beyond a token youth Sunday and start thinking about how to involve kids as ushers and greeters and readers and musicians in our services.

We're also finding a relationship between teenagers serving younger kids and their faith maturity when they graduate from high school. Teens should not only be the objects of ministry; they need to be the subjects of ministry as well. It's the 16 year old that has relationships with 66 year olds and 6 year olds who is more likely to stay involved in a faith community after she graduates.
......
Let's start with worship. What does intergenerational worship look like?

First, it needs to be theologically driven. This is far beyond any kind of politically correct appreciation of diversity that includes age diversity. God intends for community to be diverse in race, gender, and age. First and foremost, then, a church needs to be committed to being a hub where 16 year olds can have real relationships not just with peers but with 36 year olds and 66 year olds.

How that works out in practice will be different in every church. Some churches try to find a compromise worship style that nobody hates but nobody loves and everybody kind of tolerates. Other churches are doing more of a hodgepodge, where there will be a few songs that sound like youth songs and then there will be a hymn. At the root, being intentionally intergenerational means that churches need to be aware of and flexible about things that can be alienating to kids.

The good news is that with the recovery of ancient practices, spiritual disciplines, and kids' growing interest in tradition, there's a lot more common ground for adults and kids than in the past. And we need to celebrate that. I'm not saying that a 13 year old needs to be the pastor's target audience. But a pastor can do things that will engage a teenager. Using drama and video and telling stories, for example. I have sat through hundreds of sermons, and I watch the teenagers, and when they pay the most attention is almost always when the pastor is telling stories.

Youth can also be involved in the service itself by sharing testimonies and leading worship. One thing we're also doing in our church, which I love, is moving toward having families as greeters instead of just individuals. Kids can hand out stickers to other kids to make them feel welcome.

This could have major implications for church programming.

One youth pastor shared with me that he started questioning the purpose of having both a Sunday and Wednesday meeting for the youth group. They were doing basically the same things twice a week: fellowship, worship, and teaching. At the same time, the kids were disengaged from the wider church. None of them were going to a worship service on Sunday. They were just going to youth group.

So this youth pastor canceled Sunday youth group. Now kids show up on Wednesday for youth group, but on Sunday they are part of the larger church. They serve Communion and are ushers and greeters, and now and then they have roles in the sermon. The youth pastor said, "We knew it was going to be great for the kids; we had no idea how great it was going to be for the church."

It sounds like you have high expectations of what youth can and will do.

Teenagers are up to the challenge. In our college transition project, we asked high school seniors what they want more of in youth group. Time for deep conversation ranked highest. Games ranked last. That's one example of how we're currently undershooting. Tenth graders study Shakespeare. What are we offering them at church? Nothing comparable to Shakespeare.
.......
That's enough to whet your appetite. Read the whole thing.

Let me know what you think. [SDG- JS]

Farewell, Dave

2009-09-16T20:00:00.001-07:00

At 1:20 a.m. on September 1, my brother passed away. As former president Reagan so eloquently spoke, he “slipped the surly bonds of earth and touched the face of God.” He was 51 years young, and leaves a wife and four daughters. He also leaves a whole fire department.

Dave died as he lived, with a positive outlook. He firmly believed each day would be better than the next. And in this case, for him, it was true. What he lost in his battle with cancer has now been restored. What we have lost in his battle with cancer, we will have to wait for the restoration of all things.

Many continue to ask, “How are you doing?” To be honest, I simply do not know. Even if I do know, my emotions are so raw, that I am unsure how to tell you. We Stochl men have often been accused of having the emotional range of a teaspoon. That is by far too generous an assessment. We hold things pretty close to the vest.

If you ask me, and I do not respond, just know that I am grateful for your prayers, and your cards, and your calls, and your attempts to console my family and me. You have been very graciously supportive for the last 20 months since Dave’s stroke in January 2008. Know that while no single word can soothe the pain I feel. There are no magic words. But also know that just the act of asking has healing power.

Stories have healing power, too, at least for me. Allow me to share a few stories of Dave.

David John Stochl was born November 11, 1957 at Midway Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota. And he was born backwards. He was the youngest of two sons born to James and Marian Stochl. Defying centuries of family tradition, Dave early on began pronouncing his last name as “Stoke-ell” rather than “Stock-ell”.

In first grade, Dave learned to write left handed. He imitated the teacher in front of him. Sitting at her desk, facing the class, she wrote with her right hand, and Dave used the same hand, obviously, his left. This caused people through the years to believe Dave was left-handed. Of course, in his unique way, Dave was right-handed, and only wrote left-handed.

He developed an early fascination with anything that moved and had wheels. An early Christmas present was a red Tonka fire engine, a portent of things to come no doubt. His favorite book as a kid? “Go Dog, Go” by Dr. Seuss.

Our childhood summers were spent at Lake Sylvia near Saint Cloud, Minnesota, at an old yellow fishing cabin our parents owned. After finishing summer school, we would spend the rest of the summer at the cabin. Our days were full of fishing, swimming, eating, cribbage, comic books, and Twins baseball on the radio. Dave was the better fisherman, and always caught more and larger fish than I did. I did happen to hook a large one once, it was about 5’ 2” and weighed 95 pounds.

While out in our boat, I let slip my casting thumb a little early, and heard a loud “thud” and then an “ow!” Sure enough, I turned to see my fishing lure, all three barbed treble hooks firmly embedded in the back of Dave’s head. So Dave was taken to the Buffalo hospital in a red fire department ambulance. Riding to Buffalo with sirens blaring and going fast must have appealed to Dave. And from that day forward, Dave was “hooked” on the fire department.

Sometime after becoming a fireman, he called me and said, “Stokes! Guess what?” I replied, “What?” He said, “I just bought a fire truck.” In my mind, I am thinking, “OK, you don’t get enough at work, you gotta buy one for home, too?” It was only much later that he told me that he had been sent by his department to buy this 4X4 fire truck from the State. Still, he loved being a fireman so much, I was not surprised when he said he had just bought a fire truck.

A few years ago, when driving across the Snake River Gorge in Idaho, we stopped for a look. The depth and sheer walls of the canyon were awe-inspiring for me. Suddenly, Dave blurted out, “That’s where Evil Knievel jumped!” And sure enough, there in the distance, we could barely make out a dirt ramp that had launched the motorcycle across the canyon some 30 years before. We were related, but we sure saw things differently. And I will miss that.

I will miss just picking up my phone and calling him, having him answer by saying, “Stokes! How are you?” And me replying, “Stokes, what’s going on?” I will miss his strength and confidence, and that he was a fan of mine, and believed the best about me.

Dave was a man of few words, except when talking about cars or NASCAR. He didn’t talk much about his faith in God. The introspective genes were passed to me. Dave simply lived out his faith every day. He trusted that God loved him, and that was enough for him. I believe Dave is now in a better place, no doubt looking for some 1963 Falcons to restore, just as his own wracked body is being restored.

While Dave’s death pains me, it drives me deeper into the arms of God. I believe ever more fiercely in the resurrection of the dead, and that one day, I will see Dave again. I’ll say, “Stokes!” And he’ll say, “Stokes!” And we will embrace one another. And Jesus will smile.

Thank you for your prayers, and kind words. May God be praised.

[SDG- JS]

Follow Team Egypt

2009-07-01T09:41:00.000-07:00

Technology is so cool sometimes. Our tech guy, Jonathan Kofahl, has created a link so that the pictures he takes in Egypt will also be GPS encoded. This will enable him to post the pictures on Flickr, with an accompanying map. Here is the link. You will be able to look at the pictures themselves. Or you can click on one of the pink dots on the map, and it will show you which pictures were taken in that spot. A dynamic following of where the team is, and what they are seeing. At least through the lens of Jonathan's D90. [SDG - JS]

Join the Road Trip

2009-06-30T10:22:00.000-07:00

This summer, we will be exploring aspects of the spiritual journey we are on in the sermon series called "Road Trip". The idea is that the spiritual journey toward full devotion to Christ is exactly that, a journey. It is not a static thing, but a dynamic thing. It is not the status quo, but a constantly moving and growing relationship with our Heavenly Father.

As with any significant journey, there will be markers along the way. And we will be exploring those markers of the journey. Some of those journeys are from Anger to Forgiveness, from Loneliness to Community, from Bondage to Freedom, and from Fear to Faith.

Every Sunday morning this summer, our worship will be at 10:30 a.m. See you there! [SDG-JS]

Team Egypt is On the Way

2009-06-29T11:17:00.000-07:00

APC's Team Egypt is on the way. They took off last night at 11:00 p.m. from LAX after a slight delay. They are flying today to Heathrow in London, then onto Cairo. Jim Conner, Hisham Kamel, Jon Kofahl, and Wendell and Teri Walton make up the team this year. There will be a link coming shortly where you can track them by the GPS coding on the pictures they take. Cool! When we know it, we will post it here. For now, we pray travelling mercies for the team. [SDG- JS]

Unused Gift Cards Go a Long Way

2009-06-02T23:11:00.000-07:00

Do you have any gift cards lying around the house or in your wallet? There are reputedly 60 billion dollars, (yes, George, that is billion with a "b") sold each year. And there is an estimated 10% of those cards never get used, that would be 6 billion samoleans. Wow!

So along comes an idea from a group dedicated to using these cards to help those in need. Not those who need a new Nikon D90, Rich. But people who need warm clothes or a hot meal. Check out the giftcardgiver.com web site and see how you can help.

[SDG -JS]

Top Ten Wedding Advice

2009-06-02T23:02:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since we have blogged. Sorry to both our fans out there. I ran across this today in my internet wanderings: My Top Ten Wedding Advice by Eugene Cho, who is the pastor of the Quest Church in Seattle. Interesting guy. Since June is the official beginning of the wedding season, it seems like good stuff. Here is Eugene's list. If you want #10, you will have to check out his blog.

Be the right person. This is so important and worth a post by itself in the future. No one is perfect but are you ready for the covenant of marriage?
Marry the right person. Notice I didn’t say the perfect person since they don’t exist but marry the right person for you. Marry your soul mate. Please. Do not compromise. Let me say it again…do not compromise. Don’t forget that there must be a resonance and convergence of Passion, Vision, and Mission.
You can never be over-prepared. Read books. Prepare. Befriend married couples and ask them lots of questions. Take pre-marital counseling classes. Pray. Enter into your covenant with confidence but not arrogance.
Don’t “play married” when you’re not married. You know what I mean, right?
Don’t live together; sleep together; buy a house together; etc…until you are married. Please wait. It’s worth it.
Investment of Time? Are you investing in producing a great wedding (one day) or building a great marriage (a lifetime)? Think about this carefully because the energy, time, and other resources that people invest into the production of a wedding is ridunkulous.
The Wedding isn’t a show. It’s a worship service and celebration of God’s covenant. Don’t do stuff to impress people but rather, make choices that are meaningful and reflect your devotion to God and your commitment to your spouse and family. Pray, sing, hymns, Scriptures, sermon, communion, vows…do it all and worship God.
Do not go into DEBT to just put on a fancy party. In fact, just set a reasonable budget and don’t go over. This whole wedding industry is a sham. As I shared above, marriage is God’s gift and is clearly biblical but the wedding industry is a rarely exposes idolatry in many cultures – including the Western world. The ring , dresses, tuxedos, location, food, and glitz are all peripheral to your vows, your worship, and your community of friends and family. Be good stewards. Dresses, rings, suits, flowers, are blah blah blah in my opinion – why do we need to spend so much money on these thigns? They will all pass but some things won’t so make wise choices and I’d personally encourage folks to save funds for investments that will help you with your mutual Passion, Vision, and Mission.
Honor your parents. The wedding isn’t just for you. It’s an opportunity to honor your guests, your family, but especially your parents. Carve out time during the actual wedding ceremony to speak heart to heart to your parents and let them know how much you appreciate them…as you “leave” your parents to join unto your spouse.
Celebrate! It only happens once. So ENJOY and party!
[see below]
[SDG - JS]

Does God Exist? Hitchens vs. Craig

2009-04-08T16:14:00.000-07:00

This week, at Biola, a public debate was held between Christopher Hitchens and William Lane Craig. A great summary of the debate is posted here.

In light of Pastor Jim's previous post, it is well worth looking into whether God exists or not.

By this report, it appears that while Craig won the argument, Hitchens won the debate. That is, on merits, the day went to Craig. But for public perception and receptivity, the day went to Hitchens.

This confirms some of what has been posted about our own Presbyterian church's discussions of Amendment B. While conservatives are winning the votes, it appears that the other side is carrying the day, and changing peoples' minds. While the "truth" may be on our side, the compelling arguments appear to be on the other side. And they are gaining traction in the culture, and in the church. Something to ponder.

One further note. The civility and warmth of the Biola crowd was something for more open-minded and tolerant people to take to heart. When conservatives speak at college campuses today, they are met with protests, and rude behavior. When an atheist comes to speak at a Christian college campus, they are welcomed warmly, and treated with dignity and respect. Who is more tolerant? Who embraces that virtue more fully? "By their fruits you will know them."

One last note, I found one of the comments on the blog post quite interesting.

Atheism's greatest strength is its first impression.

In light of the sustained arguments of Dr. Craig, those first impressions must either harden or be transformed, and answer to the higher logic.

Well done, Biola, for sponsoring this debate. Well done, Mr. Hitchens to stepping into the lion's den. Well done, Dr. Craig, for powerfully defending the faith.

[SDG- JS]

Pouring down rain

2009-04-08T10:22:00.000-07:00

Pouring down rain three weeks ago on Sunday morning was not the beginning but it changed our direction significantly. Lynda heard a gurgling noise and looked over to see Megan our second of four children writhing in a convulsion, her eyes rolled back into her head, stuff coming out of her mouth. It was the second one that night and an answer to prayer.

Starting in early February Megan complained about forgetting things, this normal ‘A ‘student started worrying about what she could not remember and then began to get panicked and withdrawn. She spent first a day and then 3 and then eventually 6 days withdrawn and not talking to anyone, quite unusual for this very talkative energetic girl.

On the advice of the help nurse for our insurance we took Megan to the emergency Room and Huntington Memorial they ran a battery of tests and one Neurologist Doctor thought they saw a seizure on the EEG. We were referred to a doctor who specialized in Pediatric Neurology; she examined Megan and said she was fine, and referred us to a counselor. Ten days later as Megan slept on the APC youth retreat she had the first seizure someone saw as she slept at 3:30 in the morning. Dustin, Ben, Jenny and Anna handled the situation in an amazing way Megan was taken to the Emergency room at Santa Ana. Lynda picked her up there and brought her home still operating on the diagnosis of the Pediatric Neurologist who said Megan’s condition was behavioral.

Lynda called me from the car as this second seizure was happening after taking her from the emergency room, she was in a panic, 911 had put her on hold and she did not know what to do, I wanted to crawl through the phone line and help her out, but I was no where near the 605 and the 5. I called Pastor Heather at 5:30 a.m. and asked her to preach that Sunday, I found a place for the boys to go and met Lynda at Arcadia Methodist [Emergency room number 3]. A neurologist there prescribed heavy sedation and anti-seizure medications for Megan and they sent us home around 1:00 p.m.

By 2:00 Andrew was throwing up as I tried to get him to the restroom. It was a full day. On Monday I fired the first Neurologist. God arranged for our friends to make some strategic calls and we saw another Neurologist [Dr Lin] on Wednesday. He ordered more tests and said he would follow through and he did. By Friday Megan was almost completely catatonic and had trouble walking, our new Doctor sent us to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles [Emergency room number 4] where we did even more tests. Dr Lin called with a test result that he faxed over, that led us to an excellent rheumatologist Dr. Reiff who almost instantly diagnosed Megan’s condition. Sub sequent test proved this diagnosis to be correct. Megan has Lupus an auto immune disease that attacks organs in the body. It is basically the immune system in overdrive, it can attack anything in Megan’s case it decided her brain was an infection.

It is day 12 at children’s hospital now, the treatments are severe to get Lupus SLE in check [more specifically Megan has CNS Lupus of the brain] and there have been many difficult days where she could not swallow or open her mouth. Most profoundly difficult is that this attack on Megan’s brain left her open to hallucinations and psychosis. The sounds and perceptions are so disturbing that Megan like others with this condition retreats into her self and can be catatonic and non-responsive. Along the way so many of you have prayed for us, we cannot express to you all how grateful we are for your prayers. Megan has finished her first major round of steroids and Chemo therapy last week. Megan will receive Chemo therapy treatments through the end of the year to suppress her immune system and keep it from attacking her brain. Baring God’s intervention Megan will have this disease throughout her life time. It will require some changes in her life including staying out of direct sun except for very brief periods.

We continue to appreciate your prayers, as of this writing Megan will be coming home tomorrow after a huge improvement yesterday and today. There will be a period of recuperation in various areas of her Megan’s life. There are also things which we will keep private, but your prayers are always welcome and God has graciously guided you to pray just as God would have you pray to see His perfect will unfolded before you. There were some who came and prayed for hours in the lobby of the hospital for Megan one evening and so many of you have done so in your homes and wherever you were. We cannot thank you enough and are so humbled by your loving concern through prayer, it is the best ‘Do’ you could possibly do, please don’t stop.

There is a Father in heaven who loves his sin afflicted children and wants nothing more than to see us healed and whole. Happy Easter. May God resurrect your hopes with His resurrected son this Easter.

By the way the forecast for Megan’s pick up day from the hospital is rain.

Jim C.

Pray for Megan

2009-04-06T22:21:00.000-07:00

We have not been blogging much lately, as Megan Conner, the pastor's youngest daughter, has been hospitalized. She had some short-term memory loss, and has been diagnosed with Lupus. She is undergoing treatment in Los Angeles.

Please pray for Megan, the whole Conner family, and for APC. This has been a difficult time for all of us, but we fervently believe in God's goodness and power.

[SDG-JS]

The Decline of Religion in America

2009-04-06T22:14:00.000-07:00

Every Easter and Christmas, Time and Newsweek and their ilk publish articles trying to inform the public of trends in religious circles. Mostly, their articles tend to "rile the righteous," and perhaps that is their intent.

Newsweek's new article in the arsenal is here. Written by religion editor Jon Meacham, it is entitled, "The End of Christian America." The header is:

The percentage of self-identified Christians has fallen 10 points in the past two decades. How that statistic explains who we are now—and what, as a nation, we are about to become.

It is no surprise to many religious people, whether church or synagogue or mosque, that there are less and less people who are overtly religious. Church is sometimes treated as we would a rest stop on a highway, stop for a quick bite, a bathroom break, refuel the vehicle, and we are off to our chosen destination. Stop by church for a quick word from the Almighty, a little friendly patter among like minded folks, a cup of really bad coffee, and we are off!

Normally, I am not too upset by these articles, slanted as they are in a quite secular direction. But the comments in this article by Al Moehler, a devout Southern Baptist, are worth considering.

Read the article and let us know what you think.

[SDG-JS]

Amendment B

2009-03-05T13:06:00.000-08:00

Much has been written about the proposed Amendment B, which is being voted on by presbyteries across the country. Voting results are here.

The present article reads like this:

"Those who are called to office in the church are to lead a life in obedience to Scripture and in conformity to the historic confessional standards of the church. Among these standards is the requirement to live either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman (W-4.9001), or chastity in singleness. Persons refusing to repent of any self-acknowledged practice which the confessions call sin shall not be ordained and/or installed as deacons, elders, or ministers of the Word and Sacrament."

The proposed language reads like this:

"Those who are called to ordained service in the church, by the church by their assent to the constitutional questions for ordination and installation (W-4.4003), pledge themselves to live lives obedient to Jesus Christ the Head of the Church, striving to follow where he leads through the witness of the Scriptures, and to understand the Scriptures through the instruction of the Confessions. In so doing, they declare their fidelity to the standards of the Church. Each governing body charged with examination for ordination and/or installation (G-14.0240 and G-14.0450) establishes the candidate’s sincere efforts to adhere to these standards."

Several reflections on this. First, the new amendment seems to separate what God has joined together. That is, the new amendment seems to divorce obedience to scripture from obedience to Jesus Christ. It is difficult to envision a possibility of being obedient to scripture and being disobedient to Jesus Christ, or being obedient to Jesus Christ and yet disobedient to scripture.

Of course, Peter clearly violated scriptural standards (as he understood them) by visiting the centurion Cornelius in Acts 10. And yet, this "disobedience" was to the inherent "uncleanness" of a Gentile. What the early Christians came to understand is that God does not judge people based on their ethnicity.

And so, argue the folks in favor of Amendment B, the church has long excluded GLBT people from ordained office over who they are, as though they have been prejudged.

However, the issue is not GLBT orientation. Never has been. Never will be. The issue has been GLBT "practice". The original Amendment B speaks of "practice", behavior, not orientation.

Still, the separation of obedience seems, at best, artificial, and at worst, an abdication to post-modern sensitivities.

One of the issues that has come up. In a very fine blogpost by Robert Austell, he describes the debate over the amendment in his presbytery. His conclusions were the following:

Overall Observations
1. Tone: on the whole, the pro-B folks were warm, genuine, full of faith, and focused on Jesus, Scripture, people, church unity, and justice (in that order); those against Amendment B, on the whole, were saying what was wrong with the pro-B folks and their arguments.

2. Content – Scripture: the pro-B folks lived up to their declared attentiveness to Scripture; the pro-B 5-min. presenter demonstrated how she interpreted each of the nine passages mentioning homosexuality and why she was voting consistent with her beliefs; the rebuttal to that was dismissive (“that’s poor exegesis”) rather than demonstrating equal or better attentiveness to Scripture.

3. Content – Morality: far more than I’ve heard in debate before, there was a steady and positive picture painted of the homosexual relationships in question being primarily long-term, committed, and monogamous. Those against Amendment B responded by attacking that premise, but it came across as attacking a class of people and was not effective. I think the real answer to this, which will come up again in other contexts, is to challenge the GLBT folks to define a “Christian gay sexual ethic.” That gets at the deeper theological question of “Is there any sexual sin?” “What is sin? What is holiness? What are standards for church leaders if all sexual issues are taken off the board?”

4. Presence: as noted from one analysis of the Western NC vote, the pro-B line at the mic was longer. More than once, looking for the alternating position, the question was called out “are there any ‘con’ in line?” The impression I got from the front was that there were few willing to speak against and many waiting and wanting to speak in favor. When the motion came to end debate, the line was still 10-12 people long, and the impression was that they were all for Amendment B.

5. Demographics: Charlotte is a large metropolitan area, and it is probably to be expected that votes would mirror culture (cosmopolitan!) more than in more rural areas. Having said that, the Presbytery of Charlotte has a large number of rural and smaller town churches. Many smaller churches are not involved (ever) in the life of presbytery, and many did not send elders to vote. Additionally, the presbytery has given almost all of the smaller churches who ever come to presbytery meetings an additional elder vote in order to correct the imbalance between ministers and elders. As many as 50-75 votes were not cast because small or rural churches did not send two or even one elder. Many of these would be more conservative. Conservatives did write, call, and otherwise invite these folks… to no avail.

These are excellent observations, and well worth pondering. I have often thought about how much easier it is to be "for" something than "against" something. Even animated films like "Monsters, Inc." have picked up on the idea that there is more power in laughter rather than in fear.

So the question for us, on the "no on B" side is this: how will we articulate our faith in a way that is both winsome and welcoming, true to scripture and people's experiences, and in a positive and engaging style rather than being dismissive?

Now, it could very well be that the whole exercise is pointless. I remember voting on the original Amendment B in 1997. Every few years, our GLBT friends will push through another amendment to overturn the original "B". And every few years, the attempt crashes and burns. The end of the original Amendment B may very well be in the future, whether three months from now, or thirty years from now. So why keep fighting? Our GLBT friends seem to view this as a war of attrition. Mark D. Roberts has blogged on this extensively, and his analysis is quite good.

Our presbytery votes on this amendment, and others, on March 10th. Would you pray for grace, clarity, and charity? [SDG- JS]

Heart Warming

2009-01-31T07:18:00.001-08:00

I am a sucker for these kinds of stories. Maybe you are, too. H/T to Mark Roberts. Enjoy! [SDG- JS]

The Bible and Recovery

2009-01-29T13:01:00.000-08:00

I came across an interesting article this morning about an HBA documentary airing tonight on the life of Ted Haggard. Haggard was the pastor of mega-church New Life Fellowship in Colorado Springs, and then was accused of having sex with a male prostitute and using drugs. Haggard was let go as the pastor, and has struggled since. (A related article in Slate is here.)

The documentary is by Alexandra Pelosi, daughter of House Leader Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi (the daughter) claims that she and her husband are not religious people. However, as she interviewed Haggard and his family, she was drawn to the Bible. Here's how she puts it:

I’m not a really religious person. We consider ourselves to be Catholics, but we think of it more as a cultural thing. But what I love about Ted’s story, at least about Ted’s family, is that the Bible got them through. They read the Bible. They would read these passages, and it moved me. I went out and bought a new Bible. When I was making Friends with God, everybody quoted the Bible, but I was never inspired to go buy one. But this experience with Ted turned me onto the Bible in a whole new way, because he would read these passages and it would really inspire me.
People might come away from this movie being a little anti-church, but it makes you really pro-Bible. It makes you really pro-God in a way, because you read these things in the Bible and you’re like, wow.
Gayle and the kids read the Bible a lot, and they weren’t doing it for me. They got through all of this with the help of the Bible.

So Pelosi saw the family reading the Bible and doing the right things. And yet, she saw Haggard reading the Bible, and really struggling to overcome his "demons", and she was drawn to the power of the Bible.

Strength in weakness. Success in failure. Dying to live. Becoming interested in the Bible because of a man's brokenness. None of these make rational sense. And yet, that's the beauty of how God works. God can use even the most dire of circumstances to win people over, sometimes even people who are only tangentially related to the original incident.

It is not the parts of the Bible we get, and are sure of, that are powerful in the lives of others. And sometimes not even in our own lives. It is the wrestling with the Bible, as Jacob wrestled with the angel, where the truth and power of the Bible become most clear. Far from a static book, the Bible is "alive." The Bible is not a book of dead doctrine, though doctrine is important, but a living book, seeking to woo us, shape us, transform us. How cool is THAT? [SDG-JS]

Cairo Day 2

2009-01-26T05:08:00.000-08:00

Finding a place with a good connection has become a problem, sorry that you have not seen an update in a couple of days.

“The Bookfare” Friday, January 23, 2009
Today we met with Monica and Dave from St. Andrews Church at the location of the Cairo Bookfare. Dr. Hisham and I were able to see the spot where is he going to be signing books and selling books for one E.G.P. (ten cents American). We saw Rev. Seha who visited APC a couple of months ago, and a few of the Young Adults we met at Seha’s church. It was very exciting to see them; I am looking forward to doing a revival meeting with them on Friday the 30th of January. After the Bookfare we took a drive to a bazaar in the middle of Cairo to eat and buy a few gifts for family and friends. If I walk by myself and give myself an arglish (American/Arabic) accent I am able to bargain with the people pretty well, if Dave and Monica (Both white skinned Americans) are with me, it is all most impossible to get them to budge on a price… I am excited to be here, we make our way to Alexandria tomorrow.
Kimo

Heart Pounding

2009-01-22T14:01:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning (My first morning in Egypt) to the sound of the call to prayer on loud speakers that blast through the city. Each Mosque competes to see who can be the loudest and sing their prayer the longest, at least that is the way it seems at 5 in the morning…

After a cold shower (They forgot to turn the heater on) and a nice breakfast of toast and tea, I stepped outside to view the site that my heart has been bursting to see. Children in need of God’s love… They were playing in the streets just the way I had visioned them in my dreams for the two and a half months of waiting… I am so excited to be here!

First thing on the list of “To Dos” was to visit Rev. Dr. Safwat N. El-Baiady, he is to the Protestant Churches in Egypt as the Pope is to the Catholics in Rome. To be honest, I was not too excited to see him since I was so tired. (Only getting three hours of sleep), but, I am not here for sleep… Right? Anyway!

The driver who was going to take us to Rev. Baiady arrived in a Compact car of some sort, and instructs Dr. Hisham and me to sit in the back seat of the car; I thought this was a little odd, since people of importance usually get placed in the passenger seat in Egypt. It did not take me long to figure out why, the passenger seat did not have an “Oh my Lord!” handle…

Now, you may be asking what an “Oh my Lord!” handle is… Well, in some places it is called the “Oh shoot!” handle, or the “Please God help me” handle, or the “Flex your arm for the ladies” handle, it was originally designed as a bar that is attached to the ceiling of a car to help people out of the car, but I know no one that has ever actually used it for this purpose, most use it for one of the above mentioned, and I use it as an “Oh my Lord!” handle that I can quickly grab hold of to brace for impact in the event of an accident… Well, I also sometimes use it to flex my muscles, but that is besides the point…

Today, I swear I was going to pull the handle off of the ceiling, for I have never used the O.M.L. handle that much in my life. I truly do believe that the driver is practicing for F1 Racing, because he was driving at very high speeds and swerving in and out of traffic nearly hitting pedestrians and cars. I must give him credit as one of the greatest and most terrifying drivers I have ever seen. Not a single scratch was found on the car, no one was killed, and I was now wide awake for my meeting with Dr. Baiady.

Kimo

9 Hours in Amsterdam

2009-01-21T10:05:00.000-08:00

We made it to Amsterdam just fine, a long flight with nothing to do but run the battery down on my Touch Diamond phone. The internet said the flight would have personal video screens that we would be able to choose games to play or movies to watch, so I brought nothing with me... Won't make that mistake again, the jet had the older style one video monitor per 6 rows in the center isle, and played nothing but European films... Anyway! Amsterdam is in need of desperate prayer with drugs and sex on every corner.... There is a historical beauty to the place, but, my heart felt heavy with every step that I took. I have only gotten 2 hours of sleep, and am getting ready to start day Three. I have attached some photos of Amsterdam to this blog. Blessings on you all.
Kimo

At the Airport!

2009-01-20T16:30:00.000-08:00

It is January 20, 2009 and I am sitting in the airport waiting for my second flight to Egypt in less than a year's time. My heart is racing with anticipation as I prepare myself for an 11 hour flight to Amsterdam with a 9 hour lay over and then another 4 hour flight to Cairo. I can not wait to be God's instrument as I reach out to the children of Garbage city, and to the poorest of the poor in Upper Egypt. God, give me strength, compassion and Wisdom as I reach out to your people.

Next Update will be in the Netherlands if I can find an internet cafe.

Blessings...

Kimo

Leading by Principle

2009-01-13T21:24:00.000-08:00

Tony Dungy is one of my favorite football people. I remember him as he played at the University of Minnesota as a Golden Gopher. He moved on to play for the Steelers, then coach in the NFL at Tampa Bay and then for Indianapolis. This story today, when Dungy retired at the ripe old age of early 50's, explains why many in the NFl adore the man, especially players.

TAMPA, Fla. -- Forget for a second the Super Bowl victory and all the great players he coached. If you want to know what truly set Tony Dungy apart from other football coaches -- really, apart from a lot of human beings -- there is a story you need to read.

It sums up Dungy, who is retiring from the Indianapolis Colts and the National Football League today, as a person and a coach. It's the story of a man with a vision and the courage to stick to it quietly, no matter how much the world outside was banging on the windows.

The year was 1997. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, in Dungy's second year as head coach, were showing some signs the lowly franchise might be ready to escape the so-called Curse of Doug Williams. With a young cast that featured Derrick Brooks, Warren Sapp, John Lynch, Warrick Dunn, Mike Alstott and Trent Dilfer, the Bucs got hopes up with a 5-0 start.

Then, it all seemed as if the season was about to fall apart because of one man. Well, make that two men because Dungy could see the problem as clear as the rest of Tampa Bay. But that stubborn streak that would become a part of his legacy was keeping him from, outwardly, doing anything about it.

The Bucs had a talented young kicker named Michael Husted who all of sudden started missing kicks. Not only was Husted missing field goals, but even extra-point attempts were flying badly off target.

The fans and the media were up in arms. It seemed Husted had to go or else the whole season would spin out of control. It was obvious to everyone, it seemed, except Dungy.

Week after week, he stood there with his arms folded on the sidelines, never showing the slightest emotion when Husted missed a kick. The Bucs lost three games in a row.

Any other coach would have simply brought in another kicker. But Dungy had laid out a philosophy that would end up applying to every player he ever coached and he had to stick to it. He knew something the rest of the world didn't.

While media and fans were breaking down Husted's kicking technique, Dungy knew what was in the kicker's head and heart.

The real story here was Husted's mother, Ann, was dying of cancer up in Virginia.

"I always prided myself on being a pro and being able to separate off-the-field stuff from what I did on the field,'' Husted said Monday morning from his home in San Diego. "But it got to the point where my mom's situation was taking up all of my thoughts."

On the Monday after the third straight loss (to Minnesota), special-teams coach Joe Marciano sat down with Husted and said, "What would you do if you were in our shoes?'' Husted pretty much shrugged and braced himself for the inevitable.

The next morning, Dungy called and Husted was sure he was being cut. Dungy's words said something else.

"He just said, 'You're a Buccaneer. You're part of our family. You're our kicker,''' Husted said.

Mission accomplished. The next Sunday, the Bucs went up to Indianapolis. Husted made a game-winning field goal that broke his slump. The season was saved and the Bucs went on to make the playoffs for the first time in a generation. Ann Husted died after the season, but not before she came to several games and sat with Dungy's wife, Lauren, in a private box.

"What he did was relieve the pressure from me,'' Husted said. "A lot of other coaches would have just let me go. I'm forever grateful to Tony for how he handled that. It speaks a lot about the type of individual he is and how he's not going to let outside forces influence what he knows is right.''

Throughout his career, Dungy has been criticized for being too stubborn or too soft. But, deep down, wouldn't you rather have someone who cares about you and not someone who flies off the handle and listens to the whims of the world?

That should be as much a part of Dungy's legacy as all the games he won and as much as becoming the first African-American head coach to win a Super Bowl. Yes, he did things differently at times, but, in the end, you can't argue with the results.

The Super Bowl win still is fresh in the minds of many. But what Dungy did in Tampa Bay might have been even more remarkable. He took over a franchise that was in disarray, replacing Sam Wyche as the coach soon after owner Hugh Culverhouse had died and Malcolm Glazer purchased the team. In those days, the Bucs played in dreary Tampa Stadium and there was speculation about them moving anywhere from Los Angeles to Baltimore.

In 1996, a very quiet man took over a mess.

"The thing is Tony just brought this silent, commanding respect,'' Husted said. "We never felt like there was a clear road map. He came in and established what we wanted to do and how to go about it. People bought into it in the locker room and we started winning.''

The Bucs got their new stadium in 1998 and consistent winning followed. Dungy couldn't quite get the Bucs over the Super Bowl hump. Jon Gruden came in and did that. But Dungy's contributions in Tampa Bay are going to be evident for a long time. The franchise has been respectable since his arrival, and the stadium has been full for years.

Respect might be the most fitting single word to sum up Dungy's career and that's fitting. Through it all, he always earned respect.

"I think the biggest thing was you never wanted to disappoint coach Dungy because of how he treated you,'' Husted said. "I think any player who ever played for him will tell you it was an honor to play for him. The league is going to miss him and I wish you could clone him and make every coach like that because it would benefit the whole league. But you know that whatever he does going forward, he's going to keep doing it the right way and he's going to positively impact a lot of people.''

The coach stuck with his failing kicker, in the face of howling public opinion, because of his principles. You gotta admire a man like that. Way to go, coach! And Godspeed in your pursuits. May the Lord use you mightily. [SDG- JS]

Can We Spare a Minute for God?

2009-01-10T09:04:00.000-08:00

An interesting article in the Los Angeles Times cited by Mark Roberts here, entitled, "A closer, faster walk with thee". Here's a taste:

So you're racing through another jam-packed day, late picking up the kids from basketball practice because you got stuck at the office. You still have to pay the bills, walk the dog and perhaps grab cold pizza before collapsing into bed.

When do you ever find time for God?

One publisher has the answer: "The One Minute Bible, Day by Day," whose brief readings promise to inspire your "daily walk with the Lord."

Or check out "5 Minute Theologian: Maximum Truth in Minimum Time."

Because man does not live by bread alone -- and might be tempted to eat on the run -- there's "Aunt Susie's 10-Minute Bible Dinners: Bringing God Into Your Life One Dish at a Time."

The American style of worship, like everything else in people's overloaded lives, is speeding up.

This hurried search for the Almighty partly explains the rise of a niche industry of books, DVDs, podcasts, text messages and e-mail blasts that distill the essentials of faith, from creation to the crucifixion.

The materials offer bite-sized spiritual morsels that can be digested in minutes, or even seconds, on the daily commute, aboard airplanes or at the dinner table. As "7 Minutes With God" advises: "Take 7 minutes each day to: build your faith in God, grow closer to the Father, make progress in your spiritual life."

And what about your over-programmed 10-year-old? Again, religious publishers have an answer: "The Kid Who Would Be King: One Minute Bible Stories About Kids."

"The audience is definitely anyone who's interested in a ready-made, quick little devotion they can do every day," said Tim Jordan, an editor at B&H Publishing Group in Nashville, which produces the "The One Minute Bible."

"It's not meant to replace the Bible," Jordan added. "It's meant to whet your appetite."

Publishers aren't the only ones adjusting to the time pressures on modern religious life. Rabbis and ministers, aware that worship is just another weekend option for many people, are shortening their sermons and taking other steps to entice parishioners.

"What's the scarcest commodity in American life?" asks the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church. "How do we invite people to connect their life of faith with their life at the soccer practice or in the coffee shop or at the pub or waiting in line for something? I think that's the biggest challenge the church is beginning to recognize."

Traditionalists say quick-hit spirituality can be useful, but that it's no substitute for true learning or involvement in a religious community. Even some of the die-hard faithful, however, see the prophetic writing on the wall.

Leith Anderson leads a 2,900-member church in suburban Minneapolis and is president of the National Assn. of Evangelicals. He also produces a daily radio segment -- "Faith Minute" -- that is heard throughout the Midwest.

"It's preaching to people who have never been in the choir," Anderson said.

For people who are strapped for time, a one minute devotional reading is better than no devotional reading. But it certainly seems like we are trying to fit God into our lives rather than to allow our lives to fit into God's larger plans.

On Mark Roberts' blog, Chris comments:

I agree that it would be easy to criticize such an approach, so here is one quick observation. I have met many people who fall into the lifestyle trap described in the article - “When do you ever find time for God?”
What I encourage people to do is to learn from the monastic tradition (Yes, I am Presbyterian). To use small chunks of time throughout the day to meet God. I learned that the morning quiet time is not enough to sustain me throughout the day. I am bombarded all during the day with my sinfulness, stress inducers, and interactions with other people.

I try to carve out 6-7 times during the day to “pray the hours”. I think there is something to be said for a monastic way of life in the midst of the 21s century! Why not come to God at various times of the day to combat the daily grind that each day brings.

Not a bad suggestion! [SDG-JS]

Two Paths

2009-01-08T11:27:00.000-08:00

I ran across this article the other day, and it was both encouraging and discouraging.

While vacationing in Seattle over Christmas, I read two books -- one by a famous atheist who found God, the other by a journalist who gave up on God.

British philosopher Antony Flew shocked the world four years ago this month when he announced that scientific evidence had convinced him a mastermind is running the universe. Principles such as special relativity, which guides electromagnetic forces that enable everything from genetic codes to rotating planets, could have never happened by chance, he wrote in "There is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind."

He also cites the extraordinary diverse arrangements of the DNA code, which have to be in precise alignment to work properly. Their workings are so complex and subtle, that the possibility of it all falling together by chance is "minute," he said. "[It] looked to me like the work of intelligence."

He even gives a huge nod toward Christianity that, he says, "is the one religion that most clearly deserves to be honored and respected whether or not its claim to divine revelation is true.

"There is nothing like the combination of a charismatic figure like Jesus and a first-class intellectual like St. Paul. ... If you're wanting Omnipotence to set up a religion, this is the one to beat."

It's an amazing admission from a man who led the world's atheists for 60 years.

The other book hit closer to home. William Lobdell's "Losing My Religion: How I Lost My Faith Reporting on Religion in America -- and Found Unexpected Peace" is not horribly distant from some of my struggles, which led to my recent book "Quitting Church." (A personal disclosure: Mr. Lobdell wrote an endorsement for the back cover of my book.)

Things were going swimmingly for him after he became a born-again Christian in 1992 and in 2000 snagged a full-time religion reporting job for the Los Angeles Times. At the time, I envied his fabulous articles on the corruption within Trinity Broadcasting Network, an immense Christian TV ministry in Southern California.

But his faith was destroyed not only by the dirt he was uncovering about televangelists, but also by the immense evil of the Catholic priestly sex abuse scandals. Nearly every bishop and cardinal who allowed abusive priests to rape and sodomize children has remained unpunished.

He details years of interviews he had with the broken people left behind; whose prayers God did not answer, whose lives are like shattered glass. In the end, spiritual burnout, the moral failures of many Christians and God's apparent indifference to people's suffering did him in. His faith withered and in July 2007, the Times published his 3,800-word front-page essay about his newfound unbelief. He got 2,700 e-mails, many from Christians admitting they are close to the edge as well.

Where Mr. Lobdell and Mr. Flew intersect is in believing there may be a creator God, but He has created a hell on Earth where evil people reign, good people are powerless and compromised, and prayer doesn't work.

My own research leads me to believe there are a lot more people in Mr. Lobdell's position - ready to ditch their faith altogether - than there are in Mr. Flew's shoes. The number of Americans unaffiliated with a faith has zoomed from 8 percent to 14 percent in the past 10 years. The pat answers and spiritual bromides of the past aren't working anymore.

This article is written by Julia Duin from the Washington Times, who normally writes on religion in America.

I found the part about Antony Flew fascinating. Here is a scientist who has spent a disciplined life observing the wonders of the world, and he has concluded there is a God. While not a specific confession of faith towards Jesus Christ. it is a step in the right direction.

In my teenage days, I would often go backpacking in the Sierra Nevadas, most often in the Desolation Wilderness. I often felt a heartache that the creation was so beautiful, but I was on the outside looking in. I was in the classic atheist conundrum, seeing something beautiful and not knowing who to thank! Evidently, a lifetime of similar experiences has influenced Flew.

However, I was profoundly saddened by the experience of Mr. Lobdell. Christians can be petty, hypocritical, unloving, grudge carrying. How we treat one another can be quite a spectacle for outsiders, and an offense to the cause of Christ. I wonder whether Mr. Lobdell was involved in a Christian fellowship. I wonder whether he had daily prayer and Bible reading. I wonder whether there was a supportive small group he could share with, and have his faith nurtured.

Sure, for the moment, he has walked away from the faith. But what did we, his brothers and sisters in Christ, do to nurture him, to help him grow, to assist him to cling to God in those times of reporting dark stories.

The saddest part of Duin's article is that shed suspects there are more people like Lobdell than we would suspect. I diligently pray she is wrong, but if she is correct, what shall we do? Do we just shakes our heads and walk past like the Levite and the priest on that road to Jericho? Do we comfort ourselves with our own private faith? Or do we work harder to pray and support one another, and make sure everyone is connected to a solid fellowship?

Hebrews 6:9-12 says:

9Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are confident of better things in your case—things that accompany salvation. 10God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. 11We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. 12We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

Let us persevere, and help those who struggle. [SDG- JS]

Some Quotes to Ponder

2009-01-03T06:34:00.000-08:00

“An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.” - Bill Vaughn

“Jesus was the first world leader to inaugurate a kingdom with a heroic role for losers.” - Philip Yancey, Rumors of Another World (Zondervan, 2003)

“Celebrate what you want to see more of.” - Thomas J. Peters

When I am in the cellar of affliction, I look for the Lord's choicest wines. - Samuel Rutherford

Do not pray for easy lives; pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers; pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you yourself shall be a miracle. Every day you shall wonder at yourself, at the richness of life which has come to you by the grace of God. - Phillips Brooks

Cars or Compassion?

2009-01-03T06:25:00.000-08:00

An interesting article about priorities.

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 24, 2008—The ads may try to convince us that to make the holidays truly special you need a shiny, new Lexus parked in the driveway on Christmas morning, wrapped with a bright, red bow. But Corona business owner Mike Foster says he would rather keep his 15-year-old clunker and share the extra cash with kids in need.

In 2006, Mike Foster traded his luxury sports car for a 1993 Toyota Camry he affectionately calls the "Green Gremlin," allowing him to use the $600 a month savings to help rescue children from poverty through Compassion International.

"I was driving a really nice vehicle but realized there had to be more to life than feeding my ego by cruising around in a fancy sports car," said Foster. "So I decided to live with less so I could give more. My family has been sponsoring four children through Compassion International for two years and I really believe in the great work it does to help kids in need."

Upping his giving by downgrading his car felt so good that Foster invited friends to do the same - starting what he calls the Junky Car Club. It may sound like a tough sell but the Junky Car Club now boasts more than 3,000 members around the world, including Compassion International President and CEO Dr. Wesley Stafford, who proudly has commuted in a rusty, old Jeep for years.

Foster asks the club's members to join him in sponsoring children who are living in extreme poverty or give to any charity important to them.

"Mike Foster is a great example of how everyone can be part of a cause that helps children, not just during the Christmas season, but all year," said Mark Hanlon, senior vice president of Compassion International. "Of one billion people currently living in abject poverty, more than half are children."

Compassion International works with 4,800 local churches in 25 countries to provide more than 1 million children living in poverty with life-changing developmental opportunities. Through three distinct programs - infant survival, one-to-one child sponsorships and leadership development for high school graduates - Compassion gives children a hope for the future and a better life. Compassion International is committed to rescuing children from poverty, not merely sustaining them through it.
Compassion International is one of the world's largest holistic child-development organizations, addressing the physical, social, economic and spiritual needs of children in poverty. Charity Navigator, America's largest charity evaluator, has awarded Compassion International seven consecutive four-star ratings. [SDG - JS]

Righteous and Devout

2008-12-23T13:15:00.001-08:00

Devout

She kept a perfect home in many regards. Entering their home welcomes you with food and drink and engaging conversation. Every Sunday they entered the church just a few minutes late enough to be noticed. She was friends with the area Mom’s and knew what was going on. She had a keen eye for shopping and gave from her heart when the feeling was genuine. Every door in her home was open except one, the one to her bedroom. On top of the bed in the master bedroom sat all the laundry of the household forever piled in a heap 3 feet tall. She slept on the couch he slept on the floor until he was obliged to sleep outside in the R.V.

His engineering business was thriving so he hired on some help a man from his church. The project went well and there was a good payday when the project came to completion, good payday except for the man who had been hired to help complete the project. He was never fully compensated for his hours worked. No amount of intervention or reason ever overcame the division, there would be no payment the reasons were many and everyone decided to look the other way. The debt was never paid. But on most Sunday they were present in church, they were devout in their attendance and involvement.

Righteous

She worked for 30 years with under-privileged children. The daughter of privilege, it never got out of her mind how her neighborhood could be so comfortable in their wealth and privilege when just down the road three miles there was a whole other world. The conversation in the world of her youth revolved around demanding parents and which college you would go to. In her vocational world the conversations ran around survival, eviction and whether or not there would be food. Completing high school was a luxury most could not comprehend, college simply was not on the agenda, it was only a rare option for those with special promise shown significant attention by teachers who could guide a few through the process. Many fell out along the way, for one reason or another, fathers and mothers who deserted, unplanned pregnancies, and uncertain jobs. She gave her life to help these kids, but there was still an emptiness in her soul at the end of the day, something was missing. Going to church seemed to make some of that connection, but it had been so many years, and why did these people not care about the poor like the Jesus in the Bible?

Righteous and Devout

Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. 27 Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:

LK 2:29 "Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you now dismiss your servant in peace.

LK 2:30 For my eyes have seen your salvation,

LK 2:31 which you have prepared in the sight of all people,

LK 2:32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel."

Simeon is described as Righteous and Devout. He was clear about his allegiance to God and his service to others. Choosing devotion without righteousness is as empty as righteousness without devotion. Neither satisfies the deep longing designed into the soul of every person by God. Watching those who are devout to religion without being righteous is a distraction that entices many to wander from the delight that is only found in devotion to God. Delighting in religion is a poor mistress for knowing God deeply in a community of people who are dedicated to following Jesus Christ in every part of their life and practice. Most of us lean toward one or the other as a natural outworking of our gifts and biases, but God does the most amazing things when both are present.

What About You?

What is your deepest struggle, Devotion or Righteousness?

How do you define those in your life?

Who is helping you on the way?

[JC]

Who Knew? Christmas Miracles of the Present Time

2008-12-22T16:41:00.000-08:00

Not so long ago during the bustling Christmas season (you know...the one with the dead economy), my husband and I pulled up to a pump at the Monster Club Store behind another car who was finishing up his business. However, we chose not to pull up to the vacated pump space. Next thing I hear a couple of well-modulated signals from a giant ruby-red Ford Clubcab with a young woman driving. She pulled carefully past us and backed up into the vacated spot. She had sounded her z's because I was sitting with my door wide open and I am sure she was concerned about something disastrous happening to our car.

From behind the driver's side a tall, strawberry blond young woman stepped out, emptied a child's fast food drink, and returned it to the cab. Then with a look that indicated she had just about had enough of the kids for the day, she earnestly began instructing the little passengers about what was going to happen if they "DIDN'T CALM DOWN!" Never mind they each had an individual video screen dropped down for their amusement.

She began pumping her gas, leaning against the truck, trying to relax her very tired body. As I watched her I began thinking she looked like she was with child again. When she started massaging her neck and temples, I diagnosed (from a distance) she had a whizbang headache on top of everything else.

As I was just the passenger in our car, I had the opportunity to reflect on when our three were little, and what craziness ensued in the waning days of the "Season". (Sort of explained to me while our yearly bottle of brandy suddenly began getting less full. Hmmmmm?!?!?)

I shot up a serious prayer for blessings on her with enough energy to ge through the season. I could really relate. Aha! I had an idea! I had just loaded up on a supply of APC's Christmas CD's entitled "The Gift." We had begun to slowly drive away from the pump and I said to Jeff, "Here, please take this CD, and run it back to her. She looks like she could use it." After returning from the good deed, he said at first she was befuddled and asked, "Why me? Why did you give it to me?"

Jeff replied, "First of all, because my wife told me to. She said you looked like you had a long day, were really tired, and had a headache to boot, and with children caught up in the pre-Christmas excitement. This CD has some really good Christmas music with might help you get home in one piece."

She stopped for a moment to consider it all, smiled a big smile, then said, "Thank you, Merry Christmas."

On leaving the parking lot, we were in the left turn lane, and she was in the right turn lane. She caught my eye, mouthed a "thank you", and with a radiant smile she and her crewe were gone off to the east.

Wow! What a rush of feeling I had. I have never done anything like this before, but this was so cool! I was truly blessed. Sharing my faith with a total stranger, and being around to see some of the difference it made. I feel so jazzed I am ready to do it again. Of course, it won't take too long to go through my current supply of CD's. However, if they all work this well, we may have to make more!

You know, this experience makes me wonder if Mary ever had days like these. [Submitted by Amazing Grace Lowry, dutifully typed by JS]

Shepherds

2008-12-12T10:42:00.000-08:00

Illegal

Lying under a blanket in the park he could not help but notice the cold, he would prefer a home or an apartment, even a room but most of what he makes is sent home to his wife and children and right now the one meal he has a day is all he can afford with work being so scarce. Sleeping in the park is not always safe but most of the time he is unnoticed.

Being unnoticed is something you get used to. If you don’t want the immigration folks to see you, blending in is a good thing. In fact the only time he is ever noticed is when something is missing. It seems those without get blamed a lot for what goes missing even if they had nothing to do with it. Once on a work site he saw the supervisor take something, and later the owner wanted to know what had happened. Of course all the hardworking underpaid workers, like him were blamed. “I guess it goes with being called ‘illegal’, but why should working hard be illegal. Those who were born in this country and are lazy they should be illegal, not us, we want to work.

Shepherds

2000 years ago migrant sheep herders were out in the fields and when God was ready to announce the birth of His Son he did not go to Jerusalem to the big cathedral temple that was the center of the faith. He did not go to the powerful influencers of the town and society. He did not appear before the governor or the King. He came to the migrant shepherds that most people over looked, the ones on the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder the ones that no one saw, the ones who were considered to dirty to come into the temple.

Good News

God sent Angels to the least and lowest to tell the greatest news ever told that God would take the form of a baby and live right with us, we would see God in a body and would learn up close what God was about. How He loves us, and wants to walk with us and has a rhythm and purpose in mind for us that is so much bigger than anything we ever imagined and it is right there for the asking. No down payment no earning this love. It is free to us and costly to God. A Merry and Joyous Christmas to you. [JC]

Luke 2:8-20 (New International Version)

The Shepherds and the Angels

8And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

13Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

15When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

16So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Twelve Days of Christmas

2008-12-11T13:49:00.000-08:00

Every year on Christmas Day my family sings The Twelve Days of Christmas. We each take one of the days, and when our turn comes we sing with confidence, albeit slightly out of tune. My niece, Megan, snaps up the 5 Golden Rings. No one bothers any more to appeal for that day! It is hers for all eternity.

As much as I enjoy that silly song, I would rather talk about its hidden meaning.

Long ago in England, when Catholics were prohibited from practicing their faith, the song was a catechetical device for teaching children the basics of their faith.

It might be fun to try to work out what each of the gifts represented. I was able to crack the code on some, but others escaped me!

The true love is a reference to God. I got that one!

But I had to do some research to figure out most of them, although I think most people could figure that the 10 lords a’ leaping are the 10 commandments. It would take too long to unpack them all here, but I refer you to a website for the rest. I can’t resist just one more- my favorite. The 5 Golden Rings! This represents the first 5 books of the Bible- the Jewish Torah. I wonder what Megan would think about that!

Check it out! http://www.appleseeds.org/12_days-christmas.htm

[HW]

Christmas at the Mall

2008-12-03T23:13:00.000-08:00

Our second annual presentation of "Christmas at the Mall" was tonight, and it was tremendous.

Written by Kristin Baker, with, I am sure, input from everyone in 91006, the presentation weaves music and drama together to provide a glimpse of the something more we long for at the Christmas season.

Andrew Ritiau and the band were incredible, playing old classics to updated tunes, and also playing some of Andrew's recent compositions.

The actors were amazing as well. Kimo "Destructo" Baker, Jonathan "Cheapskate" Holborn, MacKenzie "Valley girl" Conner , Amanda "Perfect" Mowry, Jordan "JGib" Gibson, Amanda Gonzales, these are the ones I remember without looking at the program.

Christa Trostle and her amazing choir performed several outstanding pieces, and then Christa broke Crystal and our hearts with the achingly beautiful, O Holy Night. Not a dry eye in the place when she was finished singing. You go, girl!

The Arcadia B-Boys, and their amazing break dancing talents, were on display as well, and they were bringing it. I love watching those guys work, though I understand about zero of what they are up to, and even less about the music. Still, the boys are respectful, and wonderful to work with.

Of course, the ones who made this possible were Jonathan "The Mixer" Kofahl, Wendell Walton, Robbie Garner on the lights, and Deborah Da the slide operator. Alexandra Norwood and Rachel Stochl worked as the stage crew.

The topper of the evening was the giving away of the free CD produced by APC this season, "The Gift." It is tremendous! We ordered thousands, and hope to give them all away to those who come in our doors for holiday concerts and events. If you want one, stop by the church and pick one up. Pick up two, one for you, and one for a friend.

As Bill Hybels says, "This is church." The spirit in the room was tremendous, mostly because the Spirit was in the room. This was one of the best things we have done all year at APC, and I could not be more proud of how hard everyone worked to pull this off. Many people commented that if this is the way church happens, count me in!

And if you missed it? Come again next year! Or come to church Sunday to experience a taste of what happened tonight. SDG. [JS]

Holiday Giving

2008-11-21T08:42:00.000-08:00

As we approach the "holiday season", people's minds turn to gift giving. With the world economy in crisis mode, it is an off season. If no one spends any money, then the ripple effect goes out and the economy worsens. If everyone spends money, the economy limps along, but some go deeper into debt, which helps exactly no one. So, what to do?

In an article on MSNBC Money Central, is an article entitled "5 great ways to give happiness". Here are the suggestions:

Think life, not stuff
Connect the dots, er, people
Make someone feel better
Make time stand still
Give money

All this seemed fair and logical to me, but something struck me as not quite right. Then it hit me, this was all still narcissistic, all about me, or people I love. There is nothing here about giving to those in need.

A few years ago, we wound up at Christmas time with an extra $600 to give to charity. Our church at the time, Faith United Presbyterian Church in Highland Park, ran a food distribution program. During the Christmas season, we collected small toys from various stores and churches and individuals in order to give something to the children who would often come with their parents. Most of the toys were mere trinkets, but they loomed large to these inner-city children of poverty.

So my daughter, Rachel, and I decided to do something about this. We drove to the local Toys 'R' Us, and each of us grabbed a cart. Rachel was to fill the cart with stuff for girls, and I was to do the same for boys. Each gift had to be $5 or less. We spent two hours in the store, and it was really fun! We checked out and the total was about $595, close enough.

However, what was really fun was setting up all the toys in the basement of FUPC, and then watching the kids come in and sort through these new toys, which were current. No comic books or puzzles from 20 year old movies. Their eyes lit up as they entered the gift room, and some of them had tears in their eyes.

Rachel had so much fun doing this that she decided to raise money throughout the year to do it again the next Christmas. She discovered that it is more blessed to give than to receive. (Acts 20:35)

During this time of year, please consider gifts to those less fortunate. Here are some possible suggestions.

I believe $100 given to any one of these fine mission organizations would make for more people far more happy than the latest 120GB iPod. [JS]

Why Do We Play?

2008-11-21T00:15:00.001-08:00

A terrific article in yesterday's LA Times by Bill Plaschke, on APU's soccer playoff game against Westmont yesterday. APU could have claimed the game by forfeit, but allowed Westmont an extra day or two to prepare, due to the fires. Westmont went on to win 2-0, but in the end, the support by the APU fans and players is something I am really proud of. Here's a taste:

Just as the emotion fueled Westmont, it drained Azusa Pacific, the classy hosts overcome by their own generosity.

"There was so much going for them, the fans, the momentum, the situation, it was too much for us to overcome," said junior midfield Eric Winblad. "We almost felt like the bad guys out there."

That's sad, because rarely in Southern California sports has there been a better show of sportsmanship than this, Azusa Pacific sacrificing its chance at a title defense to give Westmont a fair shot at taking it.

As impressive as the resilience of the conquerors was the kindness of the conquered.

Goodness, the school didn't even charge admission to the game and offered the Westmont fans a free lunch of pizza and salad.

"I've lost a lot, but right now, I can't think of one thing I need," said Westmont's Dave Wolf. "The people of Azusa Pacific have given us everything."

Monday's game ended, and the Westmont fans streamed onto the field, surrounding their heroes, singing, chanting, then coming together for a most amazing final embrace.

They tunneled. That's right, just like parents in a youth soccer game, they lined up across from each other, stretched out their arms, clasped hands, and formed a tunnel through which the players ran. Darn thing stretched about 50 yards, from Azusa toward Montecito, from despair to hope.

Wolf will soon begin a daunting search for a home for himself, his wife and their five children. But for a few minutes Monday, anything was possible, the sixth-place Warriors advancing to the national tournament, scheduled to host a first-round match next weekend even though they don't know if they still have a field.

"I know it's not a very sophisticated answer, but when you ask how I'm feeling about today, I can say only one thing to everyone," said Dave Wolf, staring red-eyed into a collection of kids dancing, laughing, rising from those ashes. "Thank you."

I am so impressed by APU's stance on this. I am proud to work there, and support these wonderful students. [JS]

What Do I Look For In a Healthy Church?

2008-11-20T17:49:00.000-08:00

Interesting question, and one that has been partially answered by Philip Yancey, one of my favorite writers, here.

His three-part answer is this: diversity, unity, and mission.

About diversity, Yancey writes:

One modern Indian pastor told me, "Most of what happens in Christian churches, including even the miracles, can be duplicated in Hindu and Muslim congregations. But in my area only Christians strive, however ineptly, to mix men and women of different castes, races, and social groups. That's the real miracle."

About unity, he writes:

Of course, diversity only succeeds in a group of people who share a common vision. In his great prayer in John 17, Jesus stressed one request above all others: "that they may be one." The existence of 38,000 denominations worldwide demonstrates how poorly we have fulfilled Jesus' request.

About mission, he writes:

The church, said Archbishop William Temple, is "the only cooperative society in the world that exists for the benefit of its non-members."

Good words, all. But perhaps the best word is one of the comments on Yancey's article, posted by a young pastor of a small church.

Philip, as one who IS in ministry, in a tiny, young church (that I helped establish) wrestling with the threat of not being viable in a few short weeks, I cannot say anything but "Thank you" for your insight, your obedience, your patience and the grace you exhibit. And also for being willing to make the sacrifice of visiting a different community every week. Be assured, you sound very much like Jesus when you write about his church. And I grow more and more in my love for her when I read what you write. Once again you have been a spring of water for a tired and thirsty soul. So, once again, thank you.

And of course, there are things I would have put in here, like doctrinal soundness, Christ-centered worship, etc. But since Yancey is writing about churches that he visited, it is probably fair and gracious to give him the benefit of the doubt that he just assumed those things were there.

I suggest a read of this article, brief as it is. We are struggling here at APC to be faithful to our past, and to embrace a new future that is being birthed even as we wrestle.

I think we are doing well at the diversity and the mission, but not so well at the unity. May the Lord grant us courage and wisdom as He leads us in the days and years ahead. SDG [JS]

Fire!

2008-11-17T11:04:00.001-08:00

The dominating news in SoCal this past weekend has been fire. Fires have raged in Montecito, near Santa Barbara, in Sylmar in the San Fernando Valley, and in Yorba Linda in Orange County. The skies have been brownish, and the smell of grass fire hangs in the air. The moonrise has been orangish, but the sunsets have been spectacularly brilliant with a bright reddish-orange sun againts the backdrop of dark clouds of smoke. It feels like the end of the world.

The prophet Joel said, "The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD." (Joel 2:31)

And I am sure it feels like the end of the world to those who have been caught in the fire zones. To watch one's home burn, and one's neighborhood burn, and to see the sky filled with fire and smoke, well, who cannot help but think of the end of all things?

The Los Angeles Times has some spectacular pictures of the conflagrations going on around us. Orange County Pictures. Montecito Pictures. This picture to the right shows several palm trees igniting, and it looks eerily like fireworks, with showers of sparks raining down on the ground below them.

Several of our members, as well as Pastor Conner, attended Westmont College, and so our interest in what happened at Westmont is high. Also our former receptionist, Tabitha, is living right near Westmont. Westmont's web site is down, but a local photographer has posted some of the devastating pictures from the campus, here.

It is quite sad to see some of these gorgeous homes going up in flames. Homes that people have worked years to build and buy and furnish. And yet, in a matter of moments, all that work can be lost. I think of all the family pictures, the souvenirs from trips, the childhood memories and scrapbooks that are still in that house, burning up with the rest. Pieces of life. Gone.

I do not want to minimize the suffering and the shock, but Jesus did say,

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21)

I am reminded of a story from my college years. My friend, Sue, went home for Thanksgiving. With all the children grown and gone, her parents bought a new home, and had furnished it with all the nicer things they had always wanted. When Sue got "home", she encountered all sorts of new rules. "Don't touch that!" "Don't put your feet there?" "What are you doing? That couch isn't for sitting on!?"

As she drove away from her parents' home after a thoroughly miserable weekend, Sue got to thinking and praying. She felt that her normally stable and down-to-earth parents had been abducted by aliens! She prayed that God would show them the error of their ways, and restore some sort of sanity to her parents.

When she got back to her apartment, many hours away (in the days before cell phones), Sue had a message on her answering machine. It was her parents. She called them back at the number they had left, and heard that the new house, and all that was in it, had burned to the ground when Sue left. Evidently some faulty electrical wiring. Her parents were quite shaken and upset, but mostly apologetic for becoming so focused on the stuff, that they had lost sight of what was really important. Sue hung up the phone, and vowed never to pray again!

This one final picture just breaks my heart but also gives me hope. It is a young boy and his dog. I am assuming that he is sitting on the remnants of his former home. The boy looks sad, and the dog looks puzzled. The boy is hugging the dog, perhaps to comfort his dog, or perhaps to be comforted by his dog. Perhaps both.

Amidst the human wreckage of life, we should be there to comfort others in their losses, just as God is always there to comfort us in our losses.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

Please pray with us, for those who have been affected by the fires, and for those brave men and women who are fighting these fires. [JS]

This is Church

2008-11-10T14:08:00.000-08:00

This summer, Bill Hybels wrote a book called "Axiom: Powerful Leadership Proverbs". These are proverbs that describe in shorthand some of the leadership and ministry principles of the Willow Creek church. One of the Axioms, is "This is church." It describes the reality of church life, the dealing with the despair of brokenness and sin, and also the glories of renewed and redeemed lives, many times at the same time!

This weekend was one of those times here at APC. We received the news that one of our dear saints, Dick Erdman, had passed away. He had been diagnosed in February with pancreatic cancer, and given a very short time to live. However, he fought it, and outlived all expectations. Dick was a man who never complained, who worked hard, who always believed in the best in others. When he told us that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, he began by apologizing that he had not completed some of his paperwork as church treasurer. Wow!

But Dick is now free of the excruciating pain he had been going through in the last two weeks, and is now with his Lord. We grief his loss, and pray God's strength and comfort for his wonderful family, especially Jeannette.

At the same time, we celebrated four new members of the church. Two youth gave stirring testimonies "live" in front of the church yesterday at a combined service. Robby talked about growing up in the church and aspiring to take the mantle of leadership, while Amanda spoke movingly of giving up softball to draw closer to Jesus.

Then two adults gave testimony, Kelly speaking about his desire to grow in Christ, and Kimo speaking about how much the APC family has meant to his own family.

Amidst the grief over losing a dear friend and brother and coworker in Christ, we welcomed four new partners in ministry. It was a glorious and moving service. I did not know whether my tears were joy or sorrow. Well, this is church. [JS]

2008-11-05T10:09:00.000-08:00

I am wondering today why so much hope is placed in political candidates and yet so little trust is placed in politicians. Most of the world is starved for hope and has few things. We in the United States live in a country rich in things and yet are still starved for hope.

Further proof the approval rating of the congress is in the low 20's [the lowest ever recorded, even lower than George Bush] yet both of the candidates for President were sitting Senators as was one of the Vice Presidential candidates. How long until the fresh faces of todays excitement are yesterdays failures and disappointments? What really Lasts? What brings enduring Hope?

Jim Conner

Worship

2008-10-31T11:18:00.000-07:00

An amazing definition of worship by William Temple, former Archbishop of Caterbury. This is from his "Readings in St. John's Gospel", one of the finest books written on John. Not bad for an Anglican!

Worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by his holiness; the nourishment of mind with his truth; the purifying of imagination by his beauty; the opening of the heart to his love; the surrender of will to his purpose--and all this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy for that self-centeredness which is our original sin and the source of all actual sin.

Wow! [JS]

Back from Egypt

2008-07-21T09:45:00.001-07:00

7-21-08 Monday morning at 9:46 am
Tree trimmers outside, construction workers banging away across First Ave, a couple of cars driving down the street; other than that, not a soul in sight...

In Egypt you could not look out your window without seeing 50 people sitting outside trying to escape the heat from their homes... Here, we go inside to get away from the heat so we can be in air-conditioned homes; there, they sit out on the street hoping for a gentle breeze of any kind. Here, we take off as much clothes as we can to stay cool. There, the women wear clothes that cover their entire bodies – for some, even their faces – sometimes all you see is a slit in the garment where her eyes peek out at you. They swim in the ocean with these garments, for they fear that another man might look at them with lust... Do we have these same thoughts? Or do we ask for these same thoughts?

Kimo

Internet Down...

2008-07-09T09:29:00.000-07:00

The internet connection cost at the hotel is really bad, but the connection at the conference has just been fixed, here are some of the blogs that have been missing.
Blessings on you,
Kimo

July 7, 2008
The auditorium is full with adults singing children's praise songs as we arrive to the conference. What an amazing site to see... Adults acting like children as they sing their praises to the king of kings and Lord of Lords, our Father.
I pray that we will be used to bless these people, and I pray that we are blessed by them.
Kimo

July 8, 2008
Hope for the future, hope for the next generation of Christians that are being raised up by this dedicated group of Pastors and teachers. This hope, accompanied by joy is found around every corner of this event. Building relationships with many of these people has been profoundly challenged in my own Christian journey as they prepare to teach a religion that is a long way off from acceptance in Egypt.

Jonathan

Empty Fondation Pits.

2008-07-05T14:38:00.000-07:00

In empty foundation pits the children play among the garbage bags, rocks and construction debris climbing up and down the dusty trails they have made next to the new roads paved claiming one more part of this desert for the 16 million people who call the sprawling collection of 5 storied concrete and brick buildings home. As they run and play the minaret calls out to pray… Early in the morning the call saturates the crevasses of the quilt patterns hung with the laundry and sheets to dry.

A man walks by as we eat, a bruise in the middle of his forehead, a marker of his devotion in having his head to the floor in beseeching God. If only they could know this God is waiting for them with the open arms of Jesus Christ…

Jim Conner

Pictures

2008-07-04T09:25:00.001-07:00

Here is the Link to our Photos

http://s157.photobucket.com/albums/t71/kimojava/Egypt/?action=view&current=3445fe0d.pbw

We Made It!

2008-07-03T18:56:00.000-07:00

It is 4:57 am on Friday,
We have made it to Egypt, everyone and the luggage is safe.
Hope you are all doing well.
Blessings on You,
Kimo

Season of Waiting

2008-07-02T20:19:00.000-07:00

We have arrived at the airport with all our luggage and met the rest of the team.
Looking forward to our 14 total hours of flighttime.
We arrive in London in approximately 12 hours, not including the 3 1/2 hours we just spent in line. Thank you for your prayers, we appreciate the opportunity to represent you and our Lord to our sisters and brothers in Egypt.
Blessings and Peace,
Pastor Jim Conner

Egypt

2008-07-01T10:29:00.000-07:00

Today we start the countdown for our Egypt trip. Just a little over 24 hours from now we will be getting into a van that will take us to the airport so we can spend a little over 14 hours in the air. We will first fly non-stop to England, then take another plane to Cairo where we will spend 14 days. Keep checking in here for updates.
Blessings,
Kimo